Rolling Thunder
by Jack Cross
Summary: Six Months have past since the Equalist Revolution ended. Alex Chambers thought that his biggest problem was the financial trouble that his girlfriend Asami's company was facing. But a trip to the South Pole and encounter with a dark spirit reveals that his problems are far greater then he thought as he faces not only otherworldly threats, but enemies from his home as well.
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings Internet, happy New Year and welcome to the official sequel of Chain Lightning . I promised to get the sequel out before the end of the month and I just barely got this out due to computer problems, but everything is back to normal now. Hopefully things will stay the way they're suppose to and I'll be able to get out the new chapters quickly.**

 **If you haven't read Chain Lightning, I strongly recommend that you go and read it otherwise you'll be lost.**

 **I do not in any way, shape, or form own Legend of Korra.**

A train whistle filled the air as the train came a halt, its wheels screeching against the rails. Before the cars had fully come to a stop, a young man stepped off and onto the platform. He was young, in his late teens with closely cropped dirty blonde hair and storm gray eyes. A burst of steam billowed the brown leather duster he was wearing, and he grabbed the bill of his olive drab patrol cab with the tip of his fingers to keep it from blowing off.

Central City Station hadn't changed one bit since the last time Alex Chambers had seen it. People bustled about, hurrying to get to the trains or meeting friends and loved ones. The teen scanned the crowds for a familiar face, but wasn't surprised when he didn't spot one. He hadn't told anyone he was coming back to Republic City. With a content grunt, he produced a cigarillo and placed it in his mouth before holding his thumb and index finger on either side of the end. A few arcs of electricity bounced back and forth between the two fingers, and soon the tip was glowing orange.

Six months had passed since Alex had left the Capital of the United Republic on a quest to locate his older sister, Lucy, and other individuals known as Charged, people who's DNA had been excited by a special type of energy, leaving them with strange and fantastic abilities. His search, much to his frustration, had turned up empty so far. He wasn't giving up on the search, just putting it on hold for the moment as he had some more personal matters to attend to in the city.

Alex had recently read a newspaper article covering the fact that Future Industries, one of the largest industrial corporations in the world, was teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Future Industries was also the company that belonged to Alex's girlfriend, Asami Sato. He knew how much the company meant to her. It was all that she had left following the imprisonment of her father and the death of her mother. Which was why he'd cut his travels short in order to come back, to offer any sort of help he could.

Granted, Alex didn't know much in terms of finances, or business in general. But he'd made a promise that he would come back if she ever needed help. And from what he could tell, she defiantly needed help. Besides, business may not have been his forte, but he did know technology. His own home was almost a hundred years ahead of Republic City tech wise, logic said that he could come up with something to help turn this bankruptcy thing around in no time.

"Stop that man, he stole my purse!" came a woman's shout through the crowd. Alex kept walking as if nothing had happened. It wasn't his concern, not anymore. He'd given the vigilante thing a try, and he'd payed a very heavy price for it. Besides, it was one purse. In a dog eat dog world, you had to look out for yourself. At least, that's what he kept telling himself anyway.

Oh fuck it, who was he kidding?

Alex causally stuck his leg out, tripping up the purse thief as he ran past. The man landed face down on the platform, the purse skidding out from his reach. Alex casually bent down and picked it up before walking back to the woman and handing it to her. He didn't say a word, just tipped the brim of his hat and continued on as if nothing had happened.

As much as he tried, Alex found that he couldn't ignore people who needed help. No matter how much the situation would not benefit him, or even cause him pain, he simply couldn't walk away. Part of him had always been like that, unable to leave a fellow student to be bullied or beaten up. Another part of him thought of his long time friend Kelly. She had always encouraged him to help others as well. And now that she was gone, it felt like he was honoring her memory by doing little acts like that.

Walking out of the station, Alex cast a glance up at the statue of Fire Lord Zuko as he past. He remembered the time he'd come here with Korra and Mako while looking for Bolin just before the events of The Revelation. That all seemed like a lifetime ago now. With a small smile at the memory, he stepped onto a passing trolly and began the long ride across town.

The past six months for Alex had certainly been a whirlwind of chaotic insanity to say the least. He'd been involved with rebel factions in the Earth Kingdom, discovered new abilities, met friends new and old, and had even acquired a new weapon or two. But, all of that still didn't cover the fact that his primary reason for leaving Republic City in the first place had been a failure. Lucy's statement of finding her at a place called the Rock had been too vague. Of course, in a nation called the Earth Kingdom, the lightning user really shouldn't have been surprised.

A pleasant ding of the trolly's bell snapped Alex from his thoughts, and he quickly stepped off. Before him lay the main factory of Future Industries. He looked up at the massive building with a careful gaze as he took a long drag on his cigarillo. Despite the fact that she was CEO now, Asami wasn't one to be cooped up in an office all day.

The buzz of a biplane's engine caught his attention, and he noticed said plane coming in for a landing at a new airstrip next to the factory. Exhaling a cloud of smoke and dropping the cigarillo, Alex smiled to himself. Personally testing her equipment, that was more along the lines of the Asami he knew.

Alex strode across the tarmac toward the plane that had just landed. As it's engines shut down, the pilot climbed out and removed her helmet. He felt his breath hitch in his throat. Asami was just as gorgeous as the last time he'd seen her. And she hadn't noticed his presence yet, so he could look at her just that much longer.

"I think these planes are finally ready to ship," she said to a mechanic, her voice cheerful and full of enthusiasm. The scowl on the man's face was apparent, he clearly had a vastly different mindset then she did.

"To whom exactly? I'd hate to mention the elephant rhino in the room, but ever since your father was thrown in prison no company will work with us. We're nearly bankrupt," he replied.

"Relax, I'm meeting someone at the South Pole who will help us get Future Industries back on track," Asami said, her smile not faltering as she patted the man on the shoulder. The mechanic looked past her and took notice of Alex standing a short distance away with his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Do we have it in the budget to hire mercs as bodyguards?" he asked. Asami frowned in confusion before she followed his line of sight. Instantly her expression changed, her eyes going wide with shock.

"Cho can you...give us a minute?" Asami asked. The mechanic didn't say anything, but rather gave a small bow as he backed away. The heiress took a few small steps forward, her eyes blinking as if she had something in them.

"Alex?"

"Hey. 'Sami," he replied with a small smile. Asami darted forward and tacked him into a bear hug. Alex happily caught her, and the two of them kissed like their lives depended on it. After a moment, they broke apart simply for the need to breathe.

"When did you get back?" she asked.

"Just now. I heard you were having a little trouble with the company and figured I'd come offer to help," he replied.

"Well you're just in time. I'm leaving this afternoon to head to the Southern Water Tribe to work out a deal, and I could use a plus one." Alex simply smiled.

"I'd like nothing better."

* * *

Alex leaned against the railing of the ship, staring out into the gray sea. His fear of falling overboard was somewhat curbed by the size of the ship, so he found himself relaxing more. There was something about being at sea that was timeless, it made all the worries of the past and the future vanish. It gave him a chance to clear his otherwise busy mind and just relax, to just enjoy the state of being.

"You're handling this a lot better then I would have thought. Last time I saw you on a boat we practically had to peel you off the walls." Alex turned and found himself face to face with Korra. The Avatar had changed her attire, her usual gray shirt being replaced with a dark blue.

"New outfit?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Trying a new look," she replied as she walked forward and placed her hands on the railing.

"I kinda liked the old one better."

"What are you doing back, Alex?" she asked suddenly, her voice containing a hint of venom. He was taken back slightly by this.

"What? I'm not allowed to come home every once in a while? I'd thought you'd be glad to see me."

"Yeah, well, I guess we we're both wrong in that regard," she said before she started to turn away. Alex quickly placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Hey, what gives?" he asked, clearly confused.

"You left Alex," she said without turning around, "I poured my heart and soul out to you, and you left." He frowned and felt his heart sink as he realized what she was talking about.

"Look, I..."

"Why are you back?" she asked again.

"Asami is in trouble money wise, I came to offer what help I could," he said.

"Asami is a big girl, and she doesn't need your help. Go back to wandering, Alex. That's all you seem to be good at," Korra said before walking off. Alex watched her go, a mixture of anger and guilt swirling in his chest. After a moment, he sighed and turned so that he was leaning against the railing again, looking out to sea. Part of him knew she was right. Asami could handle herself, and he had spent the large majority of the past six months wandering with nothing to show for it.

Given that, he wasn't surprised by Korra's behavior. He'd broken the Avatar's heart, and now he was getting the backlash from that. All things considered, he was just grateful that she hadn't speared him with a block of ice or thrown him overboard. Getting the cold shoulder was one thing, having actual frostbite on his shoulders because he was frozen in a block of ice was another.

"Trouble?" Asami asked as she appeared next to him. Alex made a small gesture with his hand in the direction that Korra had gone.

"Some. Not everyone is overly happy that I came back," he replied.

"You'll have to give Korra some time," Asami said as she leaned next to him, "she took it pretty hard when you left." Alex didn't answer right away. He still felt the guilt of the day he'd left, watching as first Korra and then Asami had shed tears, both of them begging him not to leave. But he had gone all the same.

"To be honest, I was expecting you to have the same reaction as her," he said.

"I won't lie, when you first left I was furious. I felt betrayed, and heartbroken. But then I noticed that Korra seemed to be taking it as badly as I was. We started talking, and I realized why you left. It didn't make me any happier that you were gone, but it was easier to forgive you for leaving," Asami said. Alex continued to stare out to sea, his demeanor becoming more depressed.

"I'm sorry I left," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, "I put you through all this and got nothing to show for it." The heiress intertwined her hand with his before leaning her head on his shoulder.

"You're back now, that's all that matters." With that, he smiled and gave her hand a small squeeze. For a while, the couple just stood there, savoring each others company.

"So you really didn't find anything?" Asami asked.

"I found plenty," Alex replied, "just not who I was looking for."

 _Earth Kingdom Naval fueling station._

Men screamed as pillars of fire raced skyward. Explosions both illuminated the night and shattered the various buildings along the waterfront. Ruptured fuel tanks spilled burning fuel over the docks and onto the water, turning the surface into glass. Walking through the chaos was a single young woman. Her hair was black and short, and the black trench coat she was wearing billowed around her as another tank exploded. If any of this was having any effect on Lucy Chambers, it wasn't showing a bit.

Around the black fingerless gloves she wore on her hands, energy the same color as the flames around her swirled. Without breaking her stride, she raised her left and pointed her index finger at one of the boats that was tied off to the docks. The plasma around her hand condensed into a single point at the tip of her finger before exploding outward in a concentrated beam.

The beam struck the craft, causing it to explode. Fire and bits of wood and metal flew skyward as she repeated the process two more times, leaving only a single craft still intact. She walked down the dock to the last boat before coming to a halt. Two men wearing Earth Kingdom uniforms were standing on the boat, staring at her with awe and petrified fear.

"I'll be needing this boat, boys," she said with a calm smile as she raised her hands, showing off the energy around them. Neither of the men hesitated in turning and jumping overboard. Lowering her hands again, she untied the boat from the dock before stepping onto the craft and taking the wheel into her hands.

"Seriously little brother, the things you make me do to save your ass sometimes," Lucy muttered to herself before she slammed the throttle forward, causing the boat to rocket forward, leaving the burning facility behind as she headed out to open sea.

 **And there you have it, the next chapter of Alex's adventure has begun. A short chapter for my standards, but it's out none the less. Like Chain Lightning, Rolling Thunder has it's own soundtrack:**

 **1: Take It from Me by Kongos.**

 **2: Underground by Kongos.**

 **3: Footsteps by Pop Evil, Alex's theme.**

 **4: Paradise by Coldplay, Asami and Korra's theme.**

 **5: Avalanche by Bring Me the Horizon, bad guy theme.**

 **6: Confident by Demi Lovato, Lucy's theme.**

 **7: Rain by The Cult.**

 **8: Centuries by Fall Out Boy.**

 **9: My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark by Fall Out Boy.**

 **10: All the Things She Said by Simple Minds.**

 **11: Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins.**

 **12: Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi.**

 **Let me know what you think. Drop a review, leave a PM, ask a question or ten, and I'll see you all in the next one.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, I'm back with the first new chapter of the new year. If you like action, you're in luck cause this chapter has some. I know you guys want to get on with it, so without any further delays, on with the chapter:**

Alex snapped another button on his jacket as he walked down the gangplank, eagerly securing himself against the frigid air of the Southern Water Tribe. At the bottom of the ramp, he paused, rubbing his hands together before blowing into them in an effort to warm them. Digging into his jacket pocket, he pulled on a pair of black leather fingerless gloves.

"How the hell do people stand these temperatures year round?" he asked.

"You get use to it," Korra said as she strode past, walking up to a small cluster of people all wearing Water Tribe apparel. Asami came down the gangplank, followed by Mako, Bolin, and June. Alex cocked his eyebrow when he noticed that the airwoman had looped her arm with the firebender, but otherwise kept his mouth shut.

"You guys remember Kya and Master Katara?" Korra said. Asami smiled, but Alex frowned.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've been introduced."

"Oh yeah, you were...out of town when we met," Asami said.

"Alex, this is Kya, Tenzin and Bumi's sister, and Katara, their mother," Korra explained. Alex gave a small respectful bow and shook hands with each woman.

"It's a pleasure," he said. Kya held his hand a little longer, a strange twinkle in her eye.

"You're strong," she said, placing her other hand on top of his.

"Um, thanks?" Alex said, looking at the others with a hint of discomfort.

"Kya specialists in reading people's energy signatures," Katara explained as Kya continued to look at him as if she'd just discovered something brand new and interesting.

"You're not a bender, and yet you radiate this power..." she said, stopping when Alex snatched his hand back.

"I take it you guys haven't told anyone about me," he said, looking at Asami and Korra. Both of the young women shook their heads. Rolling his eyes, he returned his attention to Kya.

"Look it's complicated, like, really complicated, and I don't have all the details," he explained. Both of the women nodded and decided to leave it at that. Korra walked up to a man and a woman who were standing a short distance away and embraced them both. The man was a towering figure, and clearly a warrior of some sort, while the woman strongly resembled Korra herself.

"Mom, Dad, I missed you guys so much," she said.

"We missed you too," Senna said as she hugged her daughter.

"It's good to see you as well, Asami," Tonraq said, "Korra, who's the merc?" The Avatar gave her father a look of confusion before she followed his gaze to Alex.

"Oh! Mom, Dad, this is Alex, the friend who couldn't come along when we last visited," she said.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Senna asked.

"Mom!" Korra sputtered, her cheeks turning red. Alex merely smirked to himself, but otherwise remained silent. After the cold shoulder treatment he'd gotten on the voyage down here, it was nice to see her getting put on the spot.

"Wow, I can't believe all these people came out to see us," Bolin said as he looked around, noticing the amount of people that had flooded onto the dock.

"Um, they're here for them," Korra said, pointing at a much larger ship that was pulling up to the port.

"Someone is certainly full of themselves," Alex noted.

"The great Chief of the Northern Water Tribe graces us with his presence," Tonraq said with a grunt as he folded his arms.

"He'll be gone soon enough, dear," Senna said, placing her hand on her husband's shoulder. Everyone watched as an entourage of officials disembarked from the ship. At the center of it all was a tall, skinny man and a pair of identical twins. Alex regarded the twins, feeling slightly creeper out by their appearance. The only way to tell the difference between the two was that one of them wore eyeshadow.

"Who are they?" Bolin asked.

"That's Desna and Eska, the Chief's children," Korra said, "Desna is a guy."

"Ah. And which one is Desna?" Bolin asked. Alex let out a visible shutter, which didn't go unnoticed by Asami.

"What?"

"I'm getting a major creep vibe from those two," he said. Asami looked back at the twins before giving off a shutter of her own, causing him to chuckle. Two more figures came walking down the gangplank, catching Alex's attention. They were both male, and their clothing suggested that they weren't Water Tribe. Both wore long black coats with hoods up over their heads. The leader of the two was wearing a mask and tall, while the second was shorter and had long messy hair that hung out from his hood.

Something about these two put Alex on edge. Not like Desna and Eska, who just slightly creeped him out. No, these two gave off an underlying sense of danger. He reached up and pulled the shamagh that was around his neck as a scarf up a little.

"Hey, Korra, who are the Sith Lords?" he asked. Korra looked to where he was pointing and frowned.

"I've never seen them before," she replied.

"They're Unalaq's new advisers," Tonraq said, his tone of voice making it clear that he didn't approve of the pair. The Northern Chief came down the dock and paused before them, then bowed before Korra.

"It's good to see you again, Avatar Korra," he said.

"Good to see you too," Korra replied, returning the bow. Unalaq's gaze turned to Tonraq.

"Tonraq."

"Brother."

* * *

"I'm not going to like this one bit, am I?" Alex asked as he looked up at the large white yuat before them.

"Probably not. But still, it means a lot that you're here backing me up," Asami said as she intertwined her hand with his. He took a deep breath before letting out a huff.

"Alright, let's get this over with," he said. The two boarded the craft and entered a room. Several people were all watching a man of Water Tribe origin sitting on a cushion with his fingers pressed against his head and his eyes squeezed closed in concentration. Alex blinked once as he regarded the man, recognition flooding through him.

"Um, no," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth to Asami before he turned to leave. Asami's face showed surprise at his sudden change in attitude.

"What? What's going on?"

"You didn't tell me that the business deal was with Iknik goddamn Varrick," he said, "The guy's a nut."

"Ha! Did you see that? Levitation! I was a foot off the ground!" Varrick exclaimed, earning the applause of the people around him. Alex raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend.

"Exhibit A. Now if you'll excuse me..."

"Do my eyes deceive me? Ms. Sato, you didn't tell me you were bringing the legend himself. Mr. Chambers, how nice to see you again," Varrick said, causing Alex to freeze in place and grit his teeth. He'd been so close to slipping away unnoticed.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Asami asked, confused.

"Of course! Mr. Chambers and I had a brief partnership about five months ago," Varrick said.

"He wanted to capitalize on the story of the Electric Vigilante and Amon's Uprising," Alex explained when Asami gave him a look.

"It's story of the ages! A normal guy suddenly gains fantastic abilities and then uses those abilities to save people and take revenge on the man who killed the woman he loved? Who doesn't love that?" Varrick asked.

"For the hundredth time, that's not what happened!" Alex snapped.

"Who cares kid? You gotta tweak it a little to sell big!" The electric user growled, and lightning arced between his fingers. But Asami's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet us," she said, forging ahead. Varrick nodded vigorously and motioned for them to come forward.

"Of course, of course, get over here and pop a squat. Zhu Li, get some tea for my guests!" the tycoon said. The assistant quickly collected a tray a began to pour tea into some cups as Asami and Alex took seats on cushions across from Varrick.

"Now, what can I do for you today?"

"As you know, Future Industries is looking for a partner to handle our shipping," Asami said as she was handed a cup.

"Sure! But first you gotta check out my new venture; moving pictures! Zhu Li, do the thing!" Varrick said enthusiasticly. Zhu Li, who had been handing a cup to Alex, immediately dropped the piece of china into his lap as she rushed to a projector on the far side of the room. Alex shoved one of his gloves into his mouth in an effort to bite off his screams as the scalding hot liquid covered his groin.

The projector came to life, the black and white image it cast on the far wall showing a running ostrich horse. Asami looked impressed, while Alex had fallen off of his cushion while clutching his private parts, the glove stuffed into his mouth doing an excellent job of muffling his moans of pain.

"Mind blowing right?" Varrick asked.

"Yeah," Asami replied.

"That's the past! Zhu Li, shut it off! What we do is we take someone, and we tell a story. Romance, action, some funny animal stuff for the kids, you know, whatever! What do ya think? These movers as I call them are gonna be big business," Varrick said as Zhu Li shut off the projector.

"It's pronounced movie, you cock thistle," Alex moaned out from the floor.

"Okay...but I'm just concentrating on getting Future Industries back on track. If we could hammer out a deal..." Asami said, ignoring her boyfriend.

"Stop! Look me in the eye," Varrick commanded. Instantly the tycoon was in the heiress' face, staring her straight in the eye. The two stared each other down as Alex managed to pull himself back onto his cushion. He sent a murderous glare at Zhu Li, who flashed an apologetic look in response.

"We got a deal!" Varrick cried, springing upward with a single finger pointed toward the ceiling. Asami was so startled that she fell backwards off of her cushion, but was quickly helped to her feet by Varrck, who began shaking her hand.

"We'll hammer out the details at the Royal Feast," he said, "now who wants a rocket boat ride?" The others in the room hurriedly followed Varrick out, leaving Alex and Asami on their own. The businesswoman wasted no time in tackling him in a hug.

"That went really well," she said, a hint of enthusiasm in her voice. Alex gave her a small smile. He was happy that she was happy.

"It could have gone without the whole tea to the crotch part." Asami winced.

"Yeah, sorry about that. So are you gonna go to the Feast?"

"Na, I'm gonna go get settled in. And get a new pair of pants," Alex replied.

* * *

Alex sat in one of the small huts everyone had been issued. They were well built, and warm, offering plenty of shelter against the frigid air outside. His hat and jacket were discarded on a small table while he reclined on a cot in the corner. He was reading Tannan's journal again, trying to decipher something new from it's pages. All he really got was an account of a man's descent into madness.

"Hey." The voice was soft, and if Alex had been a little more distracted he wouldn't have heard it at all. Looking up, he found that Asami had slipped into his hut.

"Hey," he said back, closing the journal and setting it to the side. The heiress took off her overcoat and hung it over the back of a chair before she sat on the edge of the cot.

"You missed the Royal Feast," she said. Alex rolled his eyes.

"Yes, God forbid I miss the crappy Water Tribe food," he said. She smiled at that before turning serious again.

"I'm sorry about the whole Varrick thing. I didn't know he'd been putting the pressure on you like that."

"Beifong declared the Electric Vigilante dead six months ago," Alex said, "in my eyes it's better it stays that way."

"You brought a lot of hope to people," Asami pointed out.

"I also brought a lot of trouble down on both myself and my friends. I already feel like shit for what I put you through this past half year, none of us need the trouble of what me picking up that mantle again will bring." The heiress gave him a long hard look. Then, she smiled and cupped his cheek with her hand.

"Oh Alex, you can be a terrible liar sometimes," she said. Alex frowned at her.

"I'm not lying."

"I know you too well. You never have been able to pass on helping someone who needed help, it's in your blood. No matter how you try to slice it, no matter how deep you bury it, as long as you draw breath, the Electric Vigilante lives," she said. He cocked his head to the side as he arched an eyebrow.

"Did you come here just to convince to me to become a superhero?" he asked. Asami gave a playful and seductive smirk.

"No. I just realized that after six months, I haven't gotten to welcome my boyfriend home properly," she said before kissing him. Alex pulled her onto the cot while deepening the kiss. After being gone for so long, this was something he'd missed and wasn't about to pass up.

Just as the heat of the moment began to flare up, a howl echoed through the night. The couple stopped kissing for a moment, listening to the haunting sound. It was close, way too close to be a wolf or something off in the hills. And what's more, it sounded familiar.

"That sounds like Naga," Alex said as another howl echoed through the night. They looked at each other before pulling apart. The polar bear dog's cries had ruined the moment. With an irritated sigh, Alex stood and pulled his jacket on.

"Where are you going?" Asami asked.

"To give that stubborn pig tailed ass and her pet a piece of my mind," Alex replied. He was angry to say the least. Korra had been getting on his nerves since this whole trip had started. Naga ruining his moment with Asami was the straw that broke the camel's back.

A light snow was falling from the dark sky. Below them, the fairgrounds and the lights of the city shined in the night like a glowing field of diamonds. Korra was standing on a ridge a short distance away to his right. Mako and Bolin appeared between him and her, apparently coming to investigate the source of the noise as well.

Between them and the fairgrounds, a dark humanoid figure appeared out of the shadows. It was dark, so dark that it was darker then the shadows around it and almost purple in color. Turning, it regarded the group of people with the one feature that stood out. It's eyes glowed a bright yellow like a flame.

"What is that?" Alex asked out loud. Suddenly the being moved, and it moved fast. It slammed into the ridge that Korra was standing on, pinning the Avatar against a cliff side while it leaned well into her personal space, it's flaming eyes staring at her.

The brothers were the first to react, immediately going on the offensive. Mako fired several quick blasts of fire, striking the creature head on. The blasts didn't so much as faze it, but it did drop Korra as it turned to face this new threat.

"Got it!" Bolin shouted as he earthbent a wall at the creature. The being easily dodged the attack, and any others that followed as it snaked its way back and forth, getting closer to them.

"Don't got it!" the earthbender shouted before the creature slammed into the brothers, sending them flying. Alex blinked and snapped out of his shock. His friends were in trouble, and he needed to help.

"Hey!" he shouted, hoping to gain it's attention. It worked, a little to well for his liking. Fiery eyes bore down on him as the creature covered the distance between them in the blink of an eye. It gripped him by the forearms and pinned him to the snow covered ground as it pounced on top of him.

"Feed, FEED!" the creature hissed before forming a mouth of sorts. Alex felt a sensation he recognized immediately. Whatever was currently on top of him, it was draining him of energy.

"You got a pretty mouth," he grunted before he gave off a decent sized electric current. The creature reared back and gave out a screech of pain, it's form flickering as the electricity surged through it. Then it's tendril like tail snatched Alex up by the torso and threw him. He sailed through the air, tumbling like a rag doll before landing with an unpleasant crunch.

With a groan, he sat up and realized that he had landed just inside of the chain link fence that served as the perimeter of the fairgrounds. The crunch he had heard when he landed were the wooden crates that his body had smashed into splinters. Getting to his feet, Alex took off at a sprint toward the Ferris wheel that sat at the center of the fair grounds.

Above his head, several thick cables ran all about the fairgrounds, many of them connected to the heart of the giant wheel. They had paper lamps of all colors hanging from them as an attempt at decoration. With a downward blast of static electricity, Alex launched himself into the air and landed on one of the cables like a skateboarder landing on his board.

This was a trick he'd picked up in the days after his defeat of Tannan. He'd found that he had a limited amount of magnetism now, and thus could stick to any metal surface if he chose to. It also meant that he could stick to any rail, or cable in this case, and ride it like a mag train did. Bending his knees, Alex rocketed forward, holding his arms out to the side in an effort to keep his balance.

The blistering cold wind on his face did little to distract him. Adrenaline and sense of urgancy had all but made him completely ignore everything but his goals. Reaching the wheel, Alex shot a hand out and gripped one of the metal rungs. Hanging from the side of the wheel with a single hand and foot keeping him in place, he looked out over the fairgrounds.

The creature had made it inside the fence, and Korra was circling it on a funnel of air while blasting it with fire. Her eyes were aglow with the blueish white light of the Avatar State. For a moment, it looked as if her attacks would work as the being was enveloped by a swirling cloud of fire and smoke.

Then, a tendril shot out of the cloud like a scorpion's stinger, knocking Korra from her pedestal. The Avatar groaned as she tried to sit up. She looked up to find the creature towering over her, like a predator eager to finish off it's prey. Alex didn't think twice as he jumped from his perch and landed on another cable. He rocketed forward as fast as he good, building up the energy in and around his hands.

With a yell, he jumped from the cable and slammed his fist into the creature. A powerful burst of energy forced the being backwards, smashing a row of tents in the process. Alex didn't let up his assault for a second, placing himself between Korra and the creature with his arms raised, torrents of lightning flying from his hands. The creature wailed as it's form flickered and threatened to fall apart completely under the arcs of electricity.

Finally, Alex released the flow of electricity and lowered his arms, panting. He needed to take a break before he overdid himself. The creature was on its hands and knees now, it's figure flickering like a TV screen with a bad signal.

"Feed, feed," it hissed weakly. Alex raised his hands in preparation.

"You want more? Come on, I'll open the whole fucking sky on your ass," he said. As if on cue, the sky rumbled with thunder, and lightning flickered through the storm clouds.

"Alex?" It was Korra, pushing herself to her feet and watching the exchange. She knew that Alex was powerful, but she'd only ever seen him in action once. Now, as it was then, it was a terrifying sight to behold.

"Feed, feed, FEED!" the creature hissed before charging forward. Alex didn't hesitate as he clenched his fists and brought them together just before his chest. Instantly a bolt of lightning rocketed down from the sky, striking the creature and knocking it off of its charge. Another bolt followed, and another, striking the being again and again.

The air smelled of ozone, sparks and flames were kicked up by the very air being ignited, and the thunder being generated from the bolts was deafening. But what was worse and constantly present was the inhuman shrieks and wails of the creature as the lighting tore at it. It's form had gaping holes in it now, embers seemed to be falling off of it as it thrashed about as it was struck again and again. Korra clutched her hands to her ears and in an effort to save her hearing, but Alex continued on as if nothing was happening.

"Stop!" Unalaq shouted over the noise. The Northern Chief, along with Tonraq and Tenzin had arrived. Alex ignored him and continued to summon the lightning down, unleashing his full power on this creature.

"You must stop, you'll kill it!" Unalaq tried again.

"GOOD!" Alex replied before clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white. All his frustrations, all his failures, everything that had gone wrong since he'd arrived in this strange world, he was now taking out on this being of darkness. A pair of hands appeared on his shoulders, and Alex lost his focus for a tiny bit to see what was going on.

Storm gray eyes met cyan blue.

"Alex, please. Stop," Korra said. The electric user clenched his teeth before relaxing his fists and his form. Instantly the chain lightning raining down from the sky came to a halt. Alex fell to one knee, the effort having exhausted him. The creature, it's form full of holes, flickering, and smoldering, was clawing it's way along the ground. It flaming eyes had dulled, but they were still focused on Alex.

Unalaq quickly stepped forward and bent a pair of water tendrils from the snow. They snaked and danced their way around the creature before glowing with a golden color. After a moment, the being glowed with the same gold, before fading away in a shower of sparks. Unalaq returned the water to the ground before bringing his hands together.

"Go in peace."

"What the hell was that thing?" Alex asked. He was leaning on Korra for support as the full effects of his actions began to weigh down on him.

"That was a spirit, and in your brash short sightedness you almost killed it!" Unalaq snapped.

"Short sighted hell, that thing tried to eat me," Alex defended.

"Eat you?" Tenzin asked.

"Yeah. It kept repeating the word 'feed' as it attacked Alex," Korra explained.

"It tried to drain me of energy. I had to do something or else it would have been loose in a city full of innocent people!" Alex snapped.

"You have no idea what you may have just done here," Unalaq said, motioning to the spot where the spirit had been. The snow had been completely vaporized, and the ground underneath had been turned to molten glass. Alex couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd risked his life to save Korra's and who knows how many others from a rampaging spirit, and he was the bad guy?

"I was first and foremost defending myself and Korra. If you can't accept that then you can fuck off," he replied before shrugging Korra off. The Avatar looked on, confused and hurt.

"Wait, you're too weak to.." she was cut off as Alex threw his hand skyward. Instantly all the electricity flew from the paper lamps overhead into his hand.

"I'm fine!" he snapped before storming off into the night. Alex didn't sleep a wink that night, in fact, he didn't even go back to his hut. He just walked and walked, his anger seething within him. Lightning arced off of his fingers, leaving twisting and strangle lines of ice in the snow. By the time he'd finally gotten his temper under control, dawn was breaking in the east.

Turning back toward his hut, Alex tucked his hands into his jacket pockets. Letting lightning dance over his fingers had kept them warm and safe from frost bite. But now that he was no longer letting it arc, his hands were getting cold fast. When he finally reached his hut, his face was numb and his hands were following suit.

Stepping inside, he was surprised to see that Asami was still up, and Korra was there was well. But the truly shocking thing he saw was his sister Lucy sitting on the cot in the corner. Six months of searching, and there she was just sitting there as if she owned the place.

"Well well, look who finally decided to show up," she said as she hopped to her feet. Alex blinked and then blinked again.

"Lucy?"

"Got tired of waiting on your ass, little brother," Lucy said, "we got a lot to talk about."

 **And cut, chapter done. Now in case you were wondering, I never really liked Varrick, like at all. If I were in Alex's shoes I probably would have fried him a long time ago. But, aside from that, we have a sibling reunion, and spirits with a hard on for Alex. What's up with that?**

 **Oh! Before I forget, there is art done of Alex now! If you want to see what Alex looks like, go check out his illustration over on Avatar Conner's deviantart page.**

 **But, other then that, feel free to review, leave a PM, ask a question or put forward a theory, and I'll see you all in the next one.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, I'm back with another chapter. I'm pretty proud on how fast I've been getting these out. As usual I couldn't have done any of this without all your guys' support. But enough of my thanking, let's get on with what you really came here for:**

It's often said that situations that involve extreme emotions should be handled with a calm, rational mind. If you find yourself overcome with an emotion such as anger, its best to take a step back, take a deep calming breath, and approach the problem without letting emotion cloud your judgment.

"YOU LITTE FUCKING PYGMY, I'LL FRY YOU UNTIL YOUR FILLINGS BLOW OUT!"

Of course, no one ever accused Alex of being rational in anything he's ever done.

"Don't you think you're letting your anger get the better of you, little bro?" Lucy asked. Alex was currently thrashing about while Korra had him in a bear hug from behind, keeping him from charging the young woman like a bull.

"FUCK YOU!"

"Language, Alex. Honestly there's no need to involve vulgarity or an entire ethnic group."

"No need? Six months, Lucy. Six God damn months I wasted looking for you, and now you just show up like you fucking own the place?" Alex asked. Lucy looked at her fingernails with a mild disinterest.

"It's not my fault you're too much of a dumbass to figure out my message," she said. Alex's eyes flared, and Korra found that she had to tighten her grip as he renewed his attempts to get free.

"'Come find me at the Rock? Come find me at the Rock?! Could you have been any more fucking vague and cryptic?! Oh I know, maybe if you had added in 'turn left at that tree where I dropped my gum that one time' I could have found it sooner!" Lucy sighed and looked at her brother.

"Come find me at the Rock. What's so hard to understand about that?"

"You sent me looking for a place called the Rock in a country CALLED THE EARTH KINGDOM FOR FUCK'S SAKE!"

"I meant Si Wong Rock, why did you never check there?"

"I DID! ALL I FOUND WAS BUZZARDWASPS, FUCKING BUZZARDWASPS! WHAT KIND OF FUCKED UP SHIT IS THAT?!"

"Lucy, can you please stop pissing him off, I don't think my ears can take much more," Korra pleaded.

"I WATCHED THEM CARRY OFF A DOG, A FULLY GROWN DOG LIKE IT WAS A CHEW TOY! THANKS FOR THAT NIGHTMARE FUEL, SIS!" Alex continued, ignoring Korra in the process.

"Alex, I know you're really pissed off right now, but beating the crap out of me isn't going to solve our problems," Lucy said.

"Wrong, you'll be dead, and I'll be happy," Alex replied.

"You think that Sophie would be happy about that?"

"I know she'd be happy about it! Remember the time your hair got dyed pink and you had to shave it off? Who do you think brought me the shampoo bottle from your gym bag?" Lucy's eyes went wide.

"THAT WAS YOU? YOU TOLD ME STEPHINE ADAMS DID THAT!"

"OF COURSE I DID, YOU THINK I'M STUPID ENOUGH TO TAKE THE BLAME FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT?"

"I SENT HER TO THE HOSPITAL!"

"BETTER HER THEN ME!

"FUCK YOU!

"FUCK YOU!"

"FUCK YOUR MOTHER!" Alex blinked in surprise at the retort, clearly not expecting it.

"MY MOTHER IS YOUR MOTHER, DIPSHIT!"

"HEY!" Asami shouted, silencing the screaming siblings. The two were panting from shouting their lungs out, and glaring daggers at each other.

"Can I just ask who Sophie is?" Korra asked, refusing to loosen her grip on Alex.

"Sophia. She's our little sister," Alex said, his voice returning to normal volume.

"Cute kid. Evidently a traitorous little shit," Lucy added.

"Oh don't blame her, you did a bunch of worse stuff when you were her age."

"Like what?"

"Like caking half my scalp in glue, for instance."

"That was revenge for blowing up my doll with a firecracker."

"I was SIX!" A high pitched whistle filled the room. All eyes turned to Asami, who had an exasperated look on her face.

"Look, just tell him what you came here to tell him and then kill each other outside without making too much of a mess, can you do that?" the heiress asked. Lucy sighed and hung her head.

"She's right, we're getting off topic."

"What is the topic, exactly?" Alex asked. The electric user had visibly calmed to the point that Korra hesitantly released him. To her relief, he didn't immediately try to jump forward and strangle his sister.

"The group I came here with, the leader has become obsessed with these powers that we developed. He wants to make more people like us, to spread what he calls a gift that can better humanity," Lucy said.

"How? You need Rift energy to do that. And there's not exactly a stockpile of that just laying around somewhere," Alex said.

"I don't know the details exactly, all I know is that it involves this Unalaq guy somehow."

"Is this really a bad thing?" Korra asked, "I thought you would have been happy if there were a few more Charged."

"If I'm interpreting it right, what Lucy is saying is that this guy wants to create them on a worldwide scale," Alex said.

"I didn't want to become like...this," Lucy said, holding up her hands to show off the orange energy swirling around them, "I don't want thousands, if not millions of people to be in the same boat as me."

"What's worse is imagine if someone became a Charged who was dangerous. Would you really want the Equalists becoming like me?" Alex asked. The Avatar nodded at that logic. Alex walked over to the table and took off his jacket before draping it across the back of a chair and flopping down in said chair.

"Alright, so who are we dealing with and what can he do?" he asked. Lucy blinked once as she regarded her younger sibling.

"You're intending to fight him?" she asked. Alex cocked his eyebrow and held his hands up as if to say duh. She looked at the other two young women in the room, clearly not believing what she was seeing. Neither Korra or Asami looked even remotely surprised.

"It is kinda what he does," Korra said.

"Seriously? This isn't a high school bully in the hallway, Alex. This guy is serious. I mean, he's even got the Watchers backing him up."

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up, the Watchers?" Alex asked, making a time out T with his hands.

"Who are the Watchers?" Asami asked.

"A crack pot conspiracy theorist group mainly, a bunch of people hanging out on the fringes of society claiming to see a government agency in their bowl of Cheerios every morning. My main question is what YOU are doing hanging out with them?" Alex asked, pointing at Lucy.

"I thought they had a some valid arguments," she said with a shrug. The look on Alex's face clearly showed that he didn't believe her.

"This coming from the woman who choke slammed a guy for saying the moon landing was faked."

"How do you land something on a Spirit?" Korra asked, confused. Both Alex and Lucy looked like they were having strokes, the latter of which even going so far as to face palm.

"Korra, the giant white rock that hangs in the sky is not a Spirit. And before you start, yes I read the account of the Siege of the Northern Water Tribe, and no it still makes no fucking sense," Alex said, adding the last part when she went to speak up in argument.

"So where you guys come from, you've actually developed the ability to travel to the moon?" Asami asked.

"The moon, low orbit, bottom of the ocean, there were even a few projects under way to colonize other planets when I left," Lucy said.

"That sounds...amazing."

"Considering you guys only just achieved the biplane and have yet to develop pizza, hamburgers, or firearms that's not really a surprise," Alex said, "I find it fascinating that people aren't still flinging their shit at each other sometimes."

"We're getting off topic. By a lot," Korra said.

"Right right, you were defending your decision to join the Illuminati whistle blowers," Alex reminded.

"Look, when the government officials who were in charge of investigating the accident told us that you, Kelly, and Leon Tannan had been completely vaporized in the blast, I didn't believe them for a second," Lucy said.

"Why not?"

"For starters, I saw the lab before the authorities got there and quarantined off the space. There was twisted metal everywhere, and the blast didn't leave the lab. For it to completely incinerate three human bodies just wasn't possible," she explained before looking her brother in the eye, "I believed that you weren't dead, just gone."

"And this led to you getting involved with the Watchers how?" Alex asked.

"No one else shared my belief, that's how. Everyone thought that I was too wrapped up in my grief or that I was in denial, even Mom started to give up hope. Then I stumbled across the Watchers. They were poking around the investigation, believing the government was hiding something. So we made a deal; I would do leg work for them, and in return they would help me find wherever you went."

"They upheld their end of the bargain, apparently," Asami noted.

"It took months, but we were able to secure blue prints of Tannan's experiment and recreate the explosion in a much more controlled and stabilized form. A team of four was put together to go thru the portal. Markus Mercer, the project leader, Matthew Cross, Mercer's right hand man, Tessa Rodriguez, and myself," Lucy said before she took a shuttering breath.

"It went wrong when we came thru. The gate destablized, and Tessa was vaporized instantly. The three of us managed to survive but it didn't take us long to realize that we escaped unharmed," she said, looking at the plasma around her hands.

"How did you know that Alex and the others were here?" Korra asked.

"In the first week here we gathered as much information as we could about our location. This was at the height of the Equalist occupation in Republic City, and we got our hands on a set of wanted posters for known enemies of Amon. Alex was on one of those posters," Lucy explained.

"So what exactly makes this Mercer guy have such a hard on for Rift energy?" Alex asked.

"When our powers started to develop in the second week after our arrival, Mercer's development went beyond Cross's and mine to the point that it physically changed him. It made him disfigured almost. He couldn't take being labeled as a freak, and became obsessed with the idea of either curing himself, or making himself the social norm by making everyone else just like him. Cross went along with his plan blindly, but I had my doubts. We didn't exactly part on the best of terms."

"So then why come here?" Asami asked.

"Two reasons. The first was to find Alex, and I figured with his two girlfriends coming south for the Glacier Spirits Festival there was a good chance he'd be here."

"We're not dating," Korra said.

"Korra, hush. And reason two?" Alex asked.

"Because Mercer and Cross are here as well. They're Chief Unalaq's new advisers." Alex was scratching his chin in thought.

"That explains the Sith Lord appearance. Korra, this new Spirit training that Unalaq offered to you, what does it involve?" he asked. The Avatar merely shrugged.

"I don't know, I'm suppose to be meeting him around noon for our first lesson."

"Do these guys know what I look like?" Alex asked. Lucy shook her head.

"I kept your poster to myself. As far as they know you and the others were vaporized like Tessa was," she replied.

"Good. Here's the plan; I'm gonna go with Korra to her Spirit training thingy and gather as much intel as I can. Lucy and Asami will stay here and work out a way to take down these guys without too much calatoral damage," Alex said. Lucy gave her bother a pointed look.

"And you're leaving me with her why? I mean she's cute and all but..."

"Asami has the most experience with Charged besides myself. She also knows all my strengths and weaknesses, and you know these guys' powers. You two stand the best chance of working something out to beat them," Alex reasoned. Lucy let out an annoyed sigh.

"Fine. But first..." With that, she reached out, grabbed the sides of Korra's head and pulled her into a kiss. The Avatar's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, Asami's jaw dropped in utter shock, and Alex, who had been pulling on his jacket and patrol cap, facepalmed. After a moment, she broke the kiss, gave Korra a warm smile, and a pat on the cheek with her hand.

"Take that for good luck, cutie," she said before winking. Korra continued to look on in shock, her eyes wide and unblinking while her mouth hung open. Alex sighed before grabbing Korra by the wrist and leading her out the door.

"Great, you broke her, thanks a lot, sis," he said over his shoulder. Lucy continued to smile to herself before she sat on the edge of the cot. Looking up, she noticed that Asami's own look of shock had not passed.

"What?"

* * *

"You know, the last time I wanted to go to one of the Poles, it was to locate a jolly old fat guy who was gonna give me presents. And I was seven," Alex said as he finished tying off a sack of supplies to a camel yak. The creature let out a grunt before snapping it's jaws at him. The electric user just barely managed to avoid getting his fingers bit off, causing him to take a few hasty steps backwards.

"Is there a point behind your statement?" Korra asked as she leaned forward in the saddle and scratched Naga behind the ears.

"Yeah. Do we really know what we're going to find at the South Pole? It's just a point on the map, what makes it so special?"

"It is the spiritual center of the Southern Water Tribe, but it has long been neglected by the Southerners, which is why we're going there for Korra's training," Unalaq said as he rode up on a camel yak.

"That still doesn't answer my question."

"He has a point Uncle. What exactly will we be doing when we get to the South Pole?" Korra asked.

"You're going to be opening an ancient spirit portal," Unalaq said. This caught both of the teens' attentions.

"I'm sorry, what?" Korra asked.

"A what? Excuse me, what?" Alex added.

"At the South Pole lies a portal that connects our world to the Spirit World, but it has long been closed," Unalaq explained. Alex felt his blood run cold, and it wasn't the from the frigid air around him.

"And that's why the evil spirits are attacking?" Korra asked, not noticing Alex's sudden change in demenor.

"There are no evil spirits, there is light and dark in all of them. But when they become imbalanced, the darkness takes over. If you can open the portal in time, balance will be restored," Unalaq said.

"In time?" Alex asked.

"There is a reason the Glacier Spirits Festival ends on the winter solstice, young man. That's when the Physical and Spirit World are closest together. Only then can the portal be opened."

"The solstice is tomorrow," Korra noted.

"Which is why we must get moving. We cannot afford to wait another year," Unalaq said before trotting off. Korra took notice of the way Alex was standing and cocked her eyebrow at him.

"You alright?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, it's just the way he said something. It made something click for me," he replied. In truth, realization had struck Alex. Markus and Cross, their target was the spirit portal, it had to be. If Korra opened the portal, it would unleash a huge amount of Rift energy, or at least it would in theory.

He couldn't stop this trip without any proof of this. Korra, aside from being incredibly stubborn, was a tad naive, often taking what was told to her at face value. Alex got the feeling that Unalaq wasn't telling the whole story about this portal and the reasoning behind the trip. His first hint was what it had to do with the solstice.

Alex may not have known much about Spirits, but he did know history, having scoured through records to locate evidence of other Charged in the past. The winter and summer solstice had been mentioned several times as the days when the boundaries between worlds were blurred. Spirit attacks had been recorded to occur in the days around a solstice, and recent events had only reenforced evidence of this. But the way Unalaq spoke, he made it seem that the Spirits were angry because the portal was closed, which left Alex with another question.

If this was true, and the portal had been closed for a very long time, why had the Spirits waited until now to start attacking?

The second hint he got was when he realized that the only other ones going on this expedition beside Unalaq, Korra, Tonraq and himself was the two advisers that Unalaq had. He insisted that they were his assistants, and that they would aid in Korra's spiritual training. Alex had to remind Korra that the two didn't know who he was, and they agreed to alter his name slightly so as to not raise suspicion.

By the time evening had fallen, the group had made a shelter in a small outcropping in an icy cliff a built a roaring bonfire in an effort to stay warm. Alex looked out into the night, and noticed dark figures shifting in the distance, watching them from afar. He recognized the familiar forms, and felt the hair stand on the back of his neck. Dark Spirits were about.

"I think we're being followed," he said, pointing this out to the group.

"Indeed we are my friend. The dark ones have been following us since we left the outskirts. The inner tundra is their domain," Markus said, his mask muffling his voice slightly.

"Why are they following us?" Korra asked.

"They're angry because HE is here," Unalaq said, pointing at Tonraq, "Having you ever wondered how your father ended up in the South, why he's never taken you to visit the North?"

"This is not the time, Unalaq," Tonraq said sternly.

"You're right, you should have told her long ago."

"Told me what?" Korra asked. Tonraq sighed.

"I left the North Pole because I was banished," he said. Tonraq then proceeded to tell his tale, and Alex listened with great interest. Twenty years earlier, he'd been a General in the Northern Army. After a group of raiders attacked the Northern Tribe, his men had driven them deep into the northern tundra, where they'd sought shelter in an ancient forest that had supposedly been sacred to the Spirits.

Tonraq and his men attacked quickly and fiercely, forcing the raiders to quickly surrender. However the forest had been devastated in the assault, and that night dark spirits had attacked the Northern Tribe. Only Unalaq had been able to calm the Spirits and send them back from whence they came. The Northern Chief had then banished Tonraq for the devastation that his actions had caused, and the disgraced former General had come south to start a new life.

Personally Alex found the story to be fascinating, and he had a new found respect for Korra's father. Korra herself, however, took the story with a much different attitude.

"I can't believe you kept this from me," she said, her voice filled with anger.

"I was protecting you from the shame I brought on our family," Tonraq defended.

"Why do you keep hiding things from me and then tell me that it's for my own protection. I'm tired of being protected!" she snapped before stomping away from the fire. Alex wisely kept his mouth shut, choosing instead to rub his hands and slide a little closer to the flames.

* * *

"We're so close now!" Unalaq shouted over the blowing wind and snow. Alex had his hat tucked low, his jacket fully buttoned, and his scarf over his mouth and nose. It was blistering cold, and he was eager to find some shelter. He was huddled against Korra on Naga's back as they pressed forward. The Avatar wasn't doing much better as he felt her form shiver against his.

"What did my dad want?" Korra asked. Things between her and Tonraq had not improved since they'd broken camp. In fact, they had soured to the point that an irritated Korra had finally sent her father back the way they'd come. Before he'd left, Tonraq had pulled Alex to the side and asked that he keep an eye on her, to which Alex had agreed.

"He wanted me to keep an eye on you," he replied truthfully.

"I don't need watching, Alex," Korra said.

"Yeah, because our history together totally backs up that claim," came the sarcastic response. Despite the cold and the wind, Alex caught her give off a snicker. They came to a halt on a rise. Below them was a stretch of icy formations. Contained within the ice was the wood of trees. An entire forest covered in ice.

"Trees covered in ice," Korra said in awe of the sight as they dismounted.

"You must find your way to the heart of the forest to wear the dormant portal lies," Unalaq said, "from here you are on your own." Alex quickly realized that he was about to be left behind. There wasn't a snowball's chance in Hell that he was going to pass up on something like this.

"I'm going with her."

"The Avatar must go alone," the Chief insisted.

"But I don't have any connection with the Spirits. In fact they seem to hate me," Korra said.

"Which is why I'm going," Alex said.

"The Avatar must go alone," Unalaq said again, "all she needs to do is believe in herself."

"I don't need you to protect me, Alex," Korra said. Although she couldn't see his mouth, his eyes made it clear that he was angry.

"I'm not protecting you. I'm looking out for you. Teammates watch each others backs. You'd do the same if you were in my boots." Korra looked at her boots in shame, realizing her fault.

"He goes with me," she said, her tone making it clear that there would be no arguments. Neither Unalaq nor his two advisers looked overly pleased by this, but the teens ignored them as they entered the icy forest. As they walked deeper, Alex pulled down his scarf and looked at the various formations around them.

"At least we're out of the wind," he said. Korra's smile was small, yet unsure of itself as she glanced nervously at the ice around them. The formations and the trees within them were haunting and eerie.

"Thanks for coming in here with me," she said. Alex shrugged her off.

"Not a problem. I haven't exactly been the best example of a friend over the past few months and I kinda owed you one," he said.

"I get why you left, Alex," she said with a sigh, "It hurt, and it still does but I get it. Honestly I probably would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes."

"Does this mean I'm forgiven?" he asked hesitantly, ready to dive for cover if her temper flared up. Instead, she gave another smile, this one seeming genuine.

"Yeah, you're forgiven." As they walked deeper into the forest, a faint echo reached their ears. It sounded vaguely feminine and coming from ahead of them. The pair looked at each other with confusion, their ears straining to listen. Again, the echo came, only this time it was much clearer. The voice was defiantly female, but no words could be made out.

Alex held a finger up to his lips, and then pointed down a tunnel that led to their right, indicating that was the direction the noise was coming from. Korra nodded and raised her hands, ready to bend if necessary. They walked down the tunnel with caution, expecting some kind of ambush or attack.

Suddenly a snake like hiss came from behind them. The pair spun around on the balls of their feet, ready to face whatever was coming at them. A pair of dark spirits emerged from the tunnel ceiling and began slithering after them.

"Move!" Alex snapped, firing a blast of lightning at the lead Spirit before they took off running. One of the Spirits snaked its way around Alex's ankle, causing him to trip and fall.

"Feed!" it hissed as it wound it's way up his leg.

"Alex!" Korra yelled, sliding to a halt and sending blasts of fire at the Spirits. Alex electrocuted the Spirit, causing it to lose it's grip on him. He dove forward, and Korra used her waterbending to close the tunnel off with ice. The two spirits slammed into the wall of ice, but were unable to penetrate it.

"You okay?" she asked. Alex was resting on his forearms and panting heavily, his heart beating wildly in his chest.

"Fine. Peachy. You do not want to know the about of Hentai references that flashed through my mind," he said as he started to get to his feet.

"What's Hentai?"

"Trust me, you do not want to...GAH!" Alex said, nearly jumping out of his skin as he turned and found himself face to face with a glowing bluish white form. Korra saw what he was looking at and took a half step back out of caution.

The form was vaguely humanoid, and seemed to be pulsing like a bolt of electricity. It didn't so much as stand as it rather floated, suspended in mid air. It seemed to almost be a ghost, or something similar in nature.

"Uh, Korra? What am I looking at?" Alex asked.

"How should I know, no spirit training, remember?" she replied. Alex held his arm close to whatever it was, and watched as the hair on his arm stood on end, stretching toward the figure.

"Whatever it is, it's electric in nature," he said before moving his hand around a few times. His eyebrows went up in surprise when nothing happened.

"But, I have no control over it," he added.

"It's not like the spirits in the tunnels," Korra said. The figure turned it's head looking at her before looking back at Alex. Then, to both of their surprise, it spoke.

"Not...portal...closed," it said, it's voice sounding feminine and like was on a radio station with a terrible signal.

"It's a woman," Alex said in awe.

"Portal...beings...dangerous," the figure continued.

"What is she saying?" Korra asked.

"It sounds like she's trying to tell us something about the portal," Alex said. A screech filled the air as several snake like spirits began to filter in through the cracks in the ceiling of the cave they were in. Alex quickly looked around and took notice of a ball of light under the ice in the floor.

"Korra, there! The portal!" Korra immediately went into action, firing blasts of air into the icy floor while Alex shot lightning at the spirits. The figure flew from her position into one of the spirits, causing it to glow with a sapphire colored light before exploding, it's form fading out of existence.

"It's not working!" Korra shouted.

"Of course it's not!"Alex shouted back.

"How am I suppose to open this damn thing?!"

"Use your head, dumbass! What's the one thing you have that no one else on that planet does?" he said before a dark spirit wrapped its form around his leg. With a yelp, Alex was yanked off his feet and pulled toward the ceiling feet first. He continued to throw bolts of lightning in an effort to fend of the Spirits that were swarming toward him. In fact, they all but ignored Korra now as they swarmed toward him.

"TODAY PLEASE!" he shouted. Korra's eyes glowed as she entered the Avatar State and brushed her fingers against the orb of light. Instantly the floor exploded as a pillar of light erupted skyward. The dark spirits were vaporized, causing Alex to land face down on the floor. The ceiling shattered as the pillar broke thru it and into the night sky, dispelling the storm clouds and causing lights of all colors to dance about in the sky.

"The spirits are dancing in the sky," Korra said, her voice barely above a whisper as she looked on in awe. Alex groaned as he pushed himself up and looked up at the lights. He too was mesmerized by them, having never seen any of the polar lights in his lifetime.

"You have no idea what you've done," came a female voice to his left. Alex jumped and looked, finding himself face to face with the figure. Instead of a vague humanoid, it was now clear and precise like a hologram. It was the form of a young woman with hair that stopped at her jawline. Her clothing appeared to be that of an average college student's; t shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

"What..who?"

"My name is Tessa, Tessa Rodriguez," she said.

"You were vaporized," Alex said.

"And somehow I was preserved like this. By opening the portal I'm able to stable my form now with it's energy," she said, "but I'm not the only one who's being effected." Looking down, Alex realized that his veins were starting to glow with a light blue color. It snaked its way up his arms, speading out rapidly.

"What's happening to me?"

"Your body is absorbing the energy. I can help you slow it down, but you need to get out of here before you absorb too much and burn up," Tessa said.

"What do you want?" he asked. The holographic woman smirked.

"Just to ride along," she said before her form became a wisp of mist. It flowed into Alex's eyes, nose, and mouth, causing his body to go rigid as it absorbed the new energy. After a moment, he found he could move again, and he took a deep breath before coughing. He felt like he had just choked on a drink of water.

 _"_ _Move! We can't stay here!"_ Tessa said, her voice echoing in his mind. Still coughing, Alex forced himself to his feet. The light in his body was still spreading but at a much slower pace.

"Korra, come on!" he shouted. The Avatar snapped herself away from the lights in the sky and looked at him confused. He held up his arms, showing her what was happening, and her eyes went wide.

"What's happening?"

"I don't know but I think it has something to do with the Rift energy, we need to leave," he explained. Together the two made their way out of the forest, back to where Unalaq and the others were waiting. The farther away from the portal they got, the more Alex began to look normal again. By the time they stepped out of the trees, it looked as if nothing had happened.

"Everything you said was true," Korra said as they approached Unalaq. The Northern Chief smiled.

"Avatar Korra, you've taken the first step in bringing balance back to both the South and the whole world," he said.

"Can we go home now please?" Alex asked, shivering slightly against a gust of wind.

 _"_ _I second that motion,"_ Tessa's voice echoed in his mind. The electric user jumped at the voice, but passed it off as another shiver.

"Yes, there is much work to be done," Unalaq said.

* * *

 _"_ _Did you know you have music?"_ Tessa asked. The sun was rising as they were nearing the Harbor City. Alex was slowly getting use to having another voice in his head. He didn't like it one bit, but he was getting use to it.

"What?"

 _"_ _Yeah! You have music up here. It's like I'm flipping through a music album on a smart phone."_

"Did you say something?" Korra asked. Alex was riding behind her again in the saddle. Along the way back they had run into Tonraq, and he and Korra had made up before they all made the trip back together.

"Um, no I didn't," Alex said, mentally kicking himself. He didn't like any of the outcomes that he foresaw by telling the others about Tessa. Best case, they looked at him like a nut job talking to himself. Worst case, they tried to extract Tessa by force. And Alex got the feeling that would be very painful.

 _"_ _How long are you gonna stay in my head? This is like the ultimate invasion of privacy."_

 _"_ _Until we find a new body for me. Oh, these guys are good!"_ Alex jumped again as music suddenly entered his head. It was like getting a song stuck in your head, only the source came from within.

 _Take It From Me._

 _When you start, it's just a matter of time. Any minute you will cross that line._

 _Take It From Me._

 _You never think about the price that you pay. It's got a mind of it's own and it stings._

 _Take It From Me._

 _It's got a mind of it's own and it stings._

 _Take It From Me._ Alex banged the palm of his hand against forehead in an effort to get the music to stop, and to his relief it did. He really didn't like not having control like this.

"What are you doing?" Korra asked.

"Sorry, had a song stuck in my head." They came upon a ridge overlooking the Port, and stopped to take in the view. Out to sea, a cluster of battleships were sailing into the harbor. The lead ship was flying the flag of the Water Tribe.

"What are your Northern troops doing here?" Korra asked in confusion as soldiers began to land on the shores.

"Opening the portal was just the first step. A lot more has to be done before our tribes are truly united," Unalaq said. Korra and Alex looked at each other before looking back down the ridge again, both of them unsure. Alex suddenly flinched as the Imperial March began to play in his head.

 _"_ _TESSA!"_

 _"_ _Sorry, setting the mood!"_ The electric user sunk lower into the saddle and felt a rumble of irritation in his throat. Things had just gotten way more complicated.

 **And cut. Another chapter down. Tell me, what do you guys think of Mercer and Cross? What about Tessa? Let me know what you liked or didn't like in this chapter. Drop a review, leave a PM, ask a question, and I'll see y'all in the next one.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter. Again, I'm really proud on how fast I've gotten these out. But I couldn't do that without your guys' support. And now, on with the show:**

 _"_ _So what's your favorite food?"_

"You mean from here or back home?"

 _"_ _In general."_

"Double bacon cheeseburger." Alex was sitting cross-legged on his cot in his hut alone. His hat and jacket hug on a nearby chair while his boots sat unlaced by the side of the cot. Ever since they had returned from the South Pole, Alex had found the port city under military lock down. The military patrols wandering the streets combined with Alex's temper was simply a recipe for disaster waiting to happen.

So he'd retreated here, dedicating his alone time to getting to know the new voice in his head. Tessa, to his horror, was by far the most stubborn person he'd ever met. She made Korra look like a passive modest schoolgirl by comparison. He'd tried everything he could think of to get her to leave, even subjecting himself to six hours of straight white noise in an effort to dislodge her. It got so bad that he'd even vomited, and at one point had turned the noise up to the point that his ears literally started to bleed.

Tessa's retaliation to this had been to blare Miley Cyrus music in his head for a solid three hours. In the end, he conceded defeat. Or to be accurate, he'd wound up in the fettle position in the middle of the floor begging for mercy.

Tessa had made up her mind and made it abundantly clear; she was here to stay. With that fact out of the way, the two had dedicated their time to getting to know each other. Alex was surprised to learn that despite her having been present for the past six months, she actually knew very little about this new world. Her form had been very difficult to maintain, and as a result there were several instances where she had very little interaction with the world around her other then just floating.

 _"_ _Wow, the vegans must have hated you."_

"You think that's bad, you should see how I offended the Air Acolytes." With Alex now accepting that Tessa wasn't going anywhere, he took the time to fill her in on what she had missed in the past six months as well as informing her what was going on in this new world. She had a basic grasp of benders and the nations, but beyond that it was mostly non existent. He'd filled her in on the Equalist Revolution, but had used very broad strokes when describing it and making sure to leave out his actions during the fighting. The less she knew in that regard, the better. Not that she couldn't go digging for the memories and see for herself, but it was less likely to happen if she believed that his involvement in the whole thing had been as dull as dishwater.

 _"_ _I can only imagine."_

"Like hell you can. If you got access to my memories like you claim you do you can just watch what happened."

 _"_ _Oh yeah!"_ Alex sat in silence as he waited for the other presence in his head to return. He still hadn't told any of the others about Tessa yet, mainly because if she refused to cooperate then he would look like he'd gone completely insane. The only other person who had seen Tessa had been Korra, and that was before she had been rejuvenated by the energy from the portal. As far as the Avatar was concerned, what she had seen at the South Pole was just another Spirit that had vanished when the portal had been opened.

"Tessa, we need to tell the others about you," Alex said.

 _"_ _Why? I kind of like watching you squirm, trying not to make it seem like you've gone completely ape shit."_

"Well, for starters, Lucy might be happy to know that you're alive."

 _"_ _Okay, yeah, I'll give you that point."_

"And the more people know you're around, the faster we can find you your own body," he added.

 _"_ _Getting tired of me?"_

"It's weird to have a female presence watching my every move, yes."

 _"_ _Aw, Someone's a wlittle shy."_

"Look, I've got a girlfriend, and we've got a physical relationship. Do you really want to watch that?"

 _"_ _You offering? Sure! Why not?"_ Alex groaned before rubbing his temples. This girl, who from what he could tell was good friends with his sister, was almost completely unfazed by anything he threw at her. If she was friends with Lucy, he really shouldn't have been surprised.

 _"_ _I'm just messing with you. If you want some alone time with your girlfriend I'll leave you alone."_

"Wait, really?"

 _"_ _Duh. I might be a bit of a bitch, but I'm not a total perv. Your sister on the other hand..."_

"Yeah, yeah, don't get me started on her."

 _"_ _Listen, Alex, I know I'm a pain in the ass, but I really am grateful for this."_

"That's the closest thing to a thank you I've gotten since you started riding along."

 _"_ _Ride along, you make it sound like I'm an AI or something."_

"Well you do look like Cortana, only with clothes," he said. Alex couldn't help but smirk as he heard her snort.

 _"_ _You don't think I know that? Cosplay was my main hobby back home."_ At that moment the flap on the front of the hut opened and Lucy stepped into the hut. She stamped her feet and rubbed her hands together in an effort to get some warmth back.

"Hey bro, everyone's wondering where you're at," she said.

"I've been here, just me and my thoughts. You know, when I played Halo I thought that having another person in my head would be beneficial. It's been a major pain in the ass," Alex replied. Lucy looked at her brother with a puzzled expression.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. Alex held out his hand as if he was offering it to her.

"I found something at the South Pole," he replied. A full sized Tessa appeared just beyond the tips of his fingers. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her lips were curled into a smirk. Lucy's eyes bugged so wide Alex started to wonder if they would fall out.

"Is...is that Tessa?" she asked.

"Well who else would it be?" came the retort. Lucy's mouth hung open as she tried to form words, but only a croak managed to escape her throat. After a moment, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fainted. Tessa looked down at her fallen friend while Alex hopped to his feet.

"That could have gone better."

* * *

"So...this is what we saw at the portal?" Korra asked as she looked Tessa's form over. Lucy, Asami, Korra, Tessa, and Alex all stood or sat around the hut. After Lucy had come to her senses, they had called the other two in and showed them Tessa as well. Korra, because she had actually seen Tessa before and deserved to know what she had seen, and Asami because she deserved to know that Alex had a female presence clinging to his mind that he couldn't get rid of.

"I helped save your lives, even if you didn't listen to my warning of keeping that thing closed," Tessa said.

"There's nothing wrong with the portal being open, in fact I'd say its been beneficial. The Dark Spirit attacks have completely stopped," Korra said.

"Yeah, except Mercer now has access to an unlimited source of Rift energy," Alex added. The guy had returned to his position on cot, sitting with his chin resting in the palm of his hand. He looked exhausted, like he wanted nothing more then to curl up and sleep for a month.

"So what do we do now?" Asami asked. Lucy shrugged.

"Only thing we can do, wait and watch. Until we know what Mercer is up to it's not like we can act," she said.

"And Tessa?"

"What about me?" the electric woman asked.

"I mean what do we do about you? I don't know about Alex, but the idea of someone else constantly being in my boyfriend's head isn't something I'm thrilled about," Asami said.

"I'm not overly keen on the subject either," Alex added.

"Honestly, he's already on the verge of insanity as it is. Another voice in his head can't be healthy." Alex frowned.

"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence, sweetheart," he said. Asami flashed him a smile, showing that she was only teasing.

"I'm sorry Asami, I really am, but Alex is the only one I've been able to actually ride along with. And no one else is volunteering for the job," Tessa said. She sounded like she was genuinely upset about the position she had put Alex in.

"I could do it," Korra said. All eyes turned to her in an instant.

"Seriously?" Lucy asked. Korra nodded, showing she was serious.

"Yeah, I'm the Avatar, it's my job to help people. So long as you behave yourself I wouldn't mind having you tag along for a little while," she said. Alex, however, was shaking his head.

"I don't think this is such a good idea," he said.

"See, I knew you'd start missing me," Tessa said with a grin. Alex's frown showed he wasn't in the mood to joke.

"That's not what I'm worried about. Frankly if this works I'll wish you two all the luck in the world. What I'm worried about is a little detail that you two seem to be forgetting," he said before pointing directly at Korra, "YOU might not be able to take it."

"You calling me weak?" Korra asked, cracking her knuckles as if she had been issued a challenge.

"Korra, look at Tessa. She's made of electricity. We know that I can handle having her ride along with me because I'm IMMUNE to electricity. Despite your status as the Avatar, your body is still a normal human's. She could very easily fry you on accident," he argued. Korra looked at Tessa, who had taken to looking at her feet, or the floor beneath her feet as she was floating. The electric woman looked like she was having second thoughts.

"As the Avatar, that's a risk I'm willing to take," she said before offering her hand out. Tessa looked at the hand, and then looked into Korra's eyes.

"Thank you. And if anything goes wrong, sorry in advance," she said. Korra gave her a smile of reassurance before Tessa reached her hand out and placed it over hers. In a flash, the electric woman vanished. For a moment, nothing happened, and then Korra doubled over. Her arms were clenched to her sides as she sucked air in through her teeth.

"Korra, you alright?" Alex asked as he hopped to his feet. Lucy. Asami and him all raced to her side. Korra's face was flush, and beads of sweat were starting to appear on her cheeks and forehead.

"It hurts," she hissed.

"Shit, I knew this was a bad idea. Tessa? Tessa, abort! You're hurting Korra!" Alex said, raising his voice. Korra fell to her hands and knees and dry heaved, but thankfully managed to keep the contents of her stomach down. Her head suddenly snapped up, looking Alex dead in the eye. Only it wasn't the bright blue he was use to seeing.

It was the white of the Avatar State.

"Oh shit." The Avatar slammed her palm outward, sending a blast of air into Alex's chest. The electric user was launched backwards through the wall of the hut and into a snow bank outside. He found himself staring at the sky, gasping like a fish out of water as he tried to force air back into his lungs. The pain that followed was some of the most agonizing he'd felt in a while. Without a doubt the blow had broken a few ribs at least.

"What is she doing?" Asami asked.

"It's the Avatar State. Tessa is causing enough damage that Korra's body is trying to defend itself," Lucy replied.

"Then why is she going after Alex."

"He's the closest thing that resembles Tessa."

"Are you sure?"

"No, but she's all but ignoring us so it's a running theory." A shadow fell over Alex as Korra appeared above him. She looked down at him with an unholy wrath, her eyes glowing. Raising her hand above her head, Korra brought her hand down in a chopping motion. Fire slammed down toward his head, and Alex dove out of the way.

Ignoring the pain in his midsection, Alex was on his feet and running as fast as he could down the ridge toward the city. Or to be more specific he was hobbling and trying not to lose his balance. Reaching the edge of an icy cliff, he looked down at the space below him. A chain link fence ran just below him, serving as the fairgrounds boundary.

Looking back, he saw an Avatar State fueled Korra bearing down on him while riding atop a funnel of air. Jumping from his perch, Alex landed on top of the fence and began to race down the metal beam as fast as his powers would allow. He didn't get far, as Korra sent a slash of air forward, smashing a section of fence in front of him.

Alex was launched through the air again before landing in a snow drift. Coughing, he tried to push himself up but his arms gave out and he fell back into the snow. He was in too much pain to go on. Alex felt a breeze kick up as Korra landed and began to advance on him. Reaching down, the Avatar grabbed him by the throat and picked him up, easily lifting him over her head.

"Korra, please," he said, struggling to talk. His injuries made breathing an effort. Getting words out was a herculean effort. The Avatar said nothing, but rather raised her free hand which promptly burst into flames. Alex knew that unless he did something, this would be his end. Raising his hand, he barely brushed his fingers against her cheek, pushing some strands of hair that had fallen back into their place.

"Please," he gasped again. The light faded in Korra's eyes, and she let out a yelp of pain as she dropped Alex and bent over, clutching her midsection.

"Tessa. Out. Now," she growled, her eyes flickering with white light as she threatened to go back into the Avatar State. The electric woman instantly appeared beside Korra, who promptly gasped and fell to her knees in the snow.

"Are you alright?" she asked, focusing on the Avatar first. Korra nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Alex?"

"Someone just kill me," came a moan of pain.

"Tessa, help him," Korra said as she began to get to her feet. Tessa's eyebrows went up and she raised her hands in confusion.

"Okay, how?"

"His body heals when it absorbs electricity." Tessa gave the Avatar a long blank look before she strode over to Alex's head. Kneeling down next to the electric user, she raised her hand and held it over his forehead. But at the last second, she hesitated.

"Sorry, but I'm told this will help you," she said before pressing her hand to his forehead. In a flash, the electric woman vanished, and Alex's back arched in pain as his ribs repaired themselves. After what felt like hours, but was only a few minutes, he sat up gingerly.

"Ouuuch."

 _"_ _Well, that's a handy thing to have."_

"And we're back to this," he sighed. A hand appeared on his shoulder, and he looked up to find Korra's concerned face looking down at him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah. I guess we chalk this up to number four, eh?" he replied with a tired grin. Korra gave him a small smile. The fact that he was joking showed that he held no ill feelings toward her for what had just happened. Suddenly, he shivered and rubbed his hands up and down his arms.

"Fuck it's cold out here without a coat on!"

"Not use to the cold?" Korra asked as she began to support him on her shoulder.

"I was in the desert before I came back to Republic City," he replied, "I'm surprised the drastic shift in temperature hasn't killed me."

 _"_ _Macho manning much?"_

"Shut up, Tessa."

"Well, you're back to having another voice in your head I see," Korra said.

"It's expected I guess," Alex replied, "Let's just get someplace warm. I got a feeling I'm gonna need a new place to crash."

* * *

"You're just going to write it off like nothing happened?" Lucy asked.

"No, we're going to file away what we learned for future reference and move on with our lives," Alex replied. The small group had retreated to a small bar and grill, where they were currently sitting at a table in the corner. Korra and Asami had bowls of noodles sitting in front of them, while Lucy and Alex had glasses of amber colored liquid.

"I'm sorry but I don't think I can handle someone trying to kill my little brother and then just 'move on'," Lucy said.

"Okay, first of all that wasn't Korra, that was the Avatar State lashing out trying to defend itself. And secondly, this is hardly the first time Korra has tried to kill me," Alex replied. Korra looked like she was going to be sick as she stared down into her bowl. Lucy looked like Alex had just told her that he had the ability to grow a second head. Disbelief, mixed with shock.

"This has happened before?"

"Well not this exactly..."

"What? What aren't you telling me, Alex? How many times has this happened before?" Lucy asked.

"Three," both Asami and Korra said.

"Three?! What the shit? The Alex I knew would have left her in a puddle of blood and piss after the first time!" Lucy snapped, jabbing a chopstick in Korra's direction. Alex glared at his sister.

"People change, Lucy. Yes, Korra and I have had our differences, but I've managed to forgive her and MOVE ON. You gonna take a page from my book or be a dumbass about this?" he asked, leaning forward on the table slightly. It was clear from his posture that if Lucy gave the wrong answer, he wouldn't hesitate to throw the table aside and tackle her.

Lucy pierced her lips and crossed her arms. She clearly wasn't happy, but Alex's opinion still mattered to her. If her brother had forgiven Korra, she could learn to as well. Finally, she sighed.

"Alright. If Alex can forgive you, then I can too," she said to Korra. The Avatar gave her a grateful look, but still looked like she was going to be sick. This didn't escape Asami's notice, or Alex's for that matter.

"Hey, you alright?" Alex asked. She nodded, but the look still remained. Asami put her hand on the Avatar's shoulder.

"Come on, you look like you could use some air," she said.

"Go on, I'll catch up later," Alex added. Korra nodded again before she and Asami stood and walked out. Lucy slid Korra's unfinished bowl in front of her, taking a whiff of the food.

"You think she's contagious?" she asked.

"She's more torn up with guilt over almost incinerating me," Alex replied. Lucy shrugged before picking up a pair of chopsticks.

"You know her better then I do. If I get the stomach flu, I'm kicking your ass," she said before she began to dig in. Alex cocked his eyebrow at her as he took a sip of his drink.

"Is that really necessary?" he asked.

"I'm hungry and it's gonna go to waste otherwise. Besides I've already swapped spit with her so it's not like it's anything new." Alex ran his hands down his face and groaned.

 _"_ _Still blunt as ever I see. Wait, she kissed Korra?"_

 _"_ _Not the time, Tessa."_

 _"_ _Wait, have YOU kissed Korra?"_

 _"_ _NOT THE TIME, TESSA!"_

"Arguing with the voice in your head?" Lucy asked when Alex slammed his head down on the table.

"I'm seriously doubting my sanity's chances for survival." Lucy snorted.

"It never stood a snowball's chance in hell, little bro."

"Gee, thanks."

"No problem. So, regarding the elephant in the room, what are we gonna do about this whole Water Tribe thing?" Lucy asked.

"Keep our heads down and our noses clean?" Alex proposed. He really didn't want to get involved with all the problems this Unalaq thing was stirring up. He wasn't Water Tribe, hell the only reason he was still here in the South was because the Northern military had put a temporary ban on travel.

"Yeah, like that will happen," Lucy said. Alex sighed and then turned his hands palms upward.

"It's like you said back at the hut, the only thing we can do until Mercer acts is wait and watch," he said. Lucy, however, leaned forward with a knowing look in her eye.

"Waiting and watching has never been your style, Alex. I know you, and I know what you did in Republic City," she said.

 _"_ _Wait, what's she talking about?"_

"I gave that up for a reason, Lucy," Alex replied.

"And how many military patrols beating up on civilians will it take before you put on that hood again?"

 _"_ _Seriously what is she talking about? Were you a superhero or something?"_

 _"_ _Superhero? Seriously?"_

 _"_ _Well you do have powers and abilities that no one else seems to have."_

 _"_ _Vigilante, the term is vigilante."_

 _"_ _You say potato, I say vodka."_

"This isn't my fight, Lucy," Alex said.

"That argument never worked on you all those times I tried to talk you out of fighting some bully at school," Lucy replied, "It's a classic story of David vs Goliath, Alex Chambers vs the current bully. Only this time it's an entire army." Alex sighed before he stood. He downed what was left of his drink in one go before slamming the glass down on the table and throwing a few bills down to pay.

"I'm done arguing the past with you. I'm gonna go see if Korra is alright," he said before putting his hat on his head and walking up to the bar. He bought a bottle of the strongest local stuff as his usual drink, the ruby red Dragon's Bite, was out of stock thanks to the blockade. The local drink was, as far as Alex could tell, was some kind of moonshine that had been aged for a month in a steel barrel. It tasted, smelled, and burned like paint thinner, but it got the job done. Paying for the bottle, Alex tipped the bill of his hat before slipping outside.

 _"_ _Why are you so against doing this vigilante thing again? You've seen the way the patrols have been acting, people could use some help."_

 _"_ _Memories are there for a reason, Tessa, try using them."_ The electric woman's voice fell silent, and Alex stuffed his hands in his pockets. It was still absolutely freezing outside, so much so that he was surprised that the people down here were even able to use satomobiles without the machines locking up from the cold. Then again, to have not just an outpost, but a fully functional city in the Antarctic was a sign that these people were defiantly resourceful.

As he wandered through the streets, Alex let his mind wander as well. First to come to mind were Mercer and Cross. At the very least, Alex needed to know what their abilities were order for him to fight them, and Lucy had been frustratingly tight lipped in that department. Charged, in terms of combat, were more resilient and far more unpredictable then your average bender. He could easily wipe the floor with a bender off the streets. A Charged, on the other hand, took forethought and planning if you didn't want to wind up a cripple in the hospital.

Then there was the whole Vigilante fiasco. Alex blamed himself, and the fact that he had taken up the vigilante mantle for Kelly's death. No matter how many people he had helped, no matter how many he might have been able to help, the fact that someone close to him had died on his watch outweighed it all. Could he become a vigilante again? Odds were, unless something changed, he highly doubted it.

Turning the corner into an alleyway, Alex picked up the pace a little. He was using this as a shortcut to get back to the huts a little faster. Glancing up, however, rewarded him with a sight that caused him to come to a grinding halt. He blinked, blinked again, and then again in an effort to test and see if his eyes were fooling him in someway. Tessa, noticing the sudden change, returned.

 _"_ _Hey, what's going...oh."_ There, a few yards away were Korra and Asami. And they were kissing. Alex was beyond stunned, he was full on dumbstruck. Forming a sentience, a word, hell even a thought was all but lost on him as he started at the sight before him.

 _"_ _Dude, you have got to be like the luckiest guy on the planet."_ Asami was standing with her back against the alley wall, while Korra was directly in front of her. The Avatar had her arms around her neck, while the heiress had her hands on Korra's waist. Both of them had their eyes closed, and were too deeply involved in what they were doing to realize they had an audience.

 _"_ _Seriously, not a reaction at all? Don't you find this a little attractive or something? I'm a straight woman and I'M finding this attractive."_ As if to respond, the bottle slipped from Alex's grasp and shattered on the ground just before his feet. The noise alerted the two young women, who immediately separated.

"Alex, this isn't what it looks like," Asami said, her eyes going wide when she saw her boyfriend.

"Don't really know what else it would be," Korra muttered to herself. Alex, however, continued to stand there with a thousand yard stare. For several moments this continued on, with the only noise coming from the electric user being a croak as he attempted to form words. Then, Tessa's blue form appeared in front of him.

"Way to go, love birds, you broke him!"

"Tessa...this...this isn't," Asami stated, her face turning beat read as she realized the electric woman had seen her and Korra as well.

"Whatever, don't care. We got like a plug in or something for him?" Tessa asked, gesturing over her shoulder to Alex, "Cause he blue screened of death big time."

 _Southern Portal._

"All recorded symptoms are present. It appears to be working," Cross said with his arms crossed over his chest. In front of him and Mercer was a man in a Northern soldier's uniform. He was chained to a metal post, which was anchored in a block of ice. They were standing in the middle of the forest, less then ten yards from the open portal.

The soldier chained to the post was moving his head about like he was dizzy, and blood was flowing freely from his nose and ears. Stepping forward, Mercer looked at the man closer, his mask hiding any sigh of his face at all.

"Close proximity exposure may not be enough. Put him in," he ordered. Two soldiers on either side of the post assumed a bending position before raising the ice beneath the post off the ground. Then, slowly, they moved it backwards. Both the post and the man slid into the pillar of light and vanished from view.

After a minute, the soldiers reversed their stances. Just as slowly, the man and the post reemerged from the portal before being lowered to the ground again. His head was dropped, and had it not been for the chains he would have collapsed completely. Mercer stepped forward until he was close to the man hanging from the pole.

"Private Chun, can you hear me?" he asked. Chun raised his head, his eyes glazed over slightly.

"What...what did you do to me?"

"I've saved you, Private," Mercer said, "I've given you a brand new future."

"What...what?"

"I need you to listen carefully now, Private Chun. I have a very special mission for you."

 **And cut. Not a lot of action in this one, but plenty of talking. Now a lot of you had stated that you were getting a TFS vibe from Tessa. While I can't deny the similarities, I feel that I must point out that Tessa's original inspiration comes from Cortana. Her appearance, her snarky comebacks, all of that inspired by the beloved AI of Halo.**

 **So what do you think of Tessa? What about the new developments between Korra and Asami? Or how about Mercer and Cross? Drop a review, leave a PM, ask a question or two and state what you think is gonna happen, and I'll see you all in the next one.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter. I got a few things to address; first off, someone noted that this series is a crossover with inFamous in disguise. I haven't had to say this in a long time but I think a reminder is in order. This series is not crossover. It is heavily influenced by inFamous, yes, and yes Alex is based off of Cole. But this has enough of its own details to be a stand alone. Secondly; a lot of you were concerned about the whole relationship between Alex and Asami coming to an end. Well, you'll find out here.**

"This trial will now come to order. The honorable Judge Hotah will be presiding," a plaintiff said. Alex looked to his left, then his right, then down at the shackles that bound his wrists to the table in front of him. To his right sat a few men he didn't recognize along with both of Korra's parents. The Avatar herself was standing to the far end of the table, waiting on her turn to testify as she rung his hat in her hands nervously.

 _"_ _How exactly did we end up here?"_

 _"_ _Wrong place at the wrong time?"_

"Let the record show that these six individuals stand accused of the terrorist bombing of the Chief's palace," Hotah said, pointing his gavel down at them, "should you be found guilty of this crime, the punishment is death."

 _"_ _Oh yeah, that's how."_

 _Twenty four hours earlier._

Awkward. That was really the only way to describe the feeling in the room at the moment. Uncomfortably awkward, with a hint of embarrassment. They were in Asami's personal quarters this time, being as how Alex's hut now had a gaping hole in the wall. Korra was leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed, Asami was sitting in a large comfort chair, and Alex was sitting on the couch.

The electric user had his hat in his hands and was turning it over and over as if he was going to find some sort of secret code hidden on the lining. Asami was stirring a cup of tea, lightly bumping a slice of lemon around with her spoon. Korra was tapping her fingers against her arm, finding more interest in this then the others in the room.

"Alright, who wants to start?" Alex finally asked. The two young women remained silent, with Asami scrunching a little lower in her seat and Korra stopping her tapping. He looked back and forth between the two hoping, praying that one of them would say something.

"Where to start?" Asami finally said.

"How about at the beginning. The very beginning," Alex said.

"You were gone, Alex," Korra said, bitterness in her voice, "just up and gone for six months with barely any warning."

"Yeah, I got that Korra. But how that led to you kissing my girlfriend in a back alley requires a little bit more fucking context now doesn't it?" Alex snapped a little harsher then intended.

"There's no reason to get upset," Korra said, pushing off the door frame and standing upright.

"Oh really? Cause if it had been anyone else I probably would have fried them to a crisp," Alex said, getting to his feet as well.

"Sure, now you care about what we're up too," she said.

"I thought we were past this," Alex growled.

"Hey, hey, whoa. Let's not go flying off the handle here," Asami said, quickly hopping to her feet as the other two threatened to launch themselves at each other.

"Will someone please just tell me what's going on?" Alex asked.

 _"_ _You mean aside from the apparent lesbian love show that's been going on behind your back?"_

"Tessa, I swear to God, one more word and I'm throwing both of us into the ocean."

"When you left, we were both pretty broken up over it," Asami started, ignoring his outburst.

"One night we just started talking about it. Then another night, and another, and we started hanging out more," Korra added.

"And this led to you to kissing how?"

"Lucy," came the simultaneous reply. Alex couldn't help but roll his eyes at the mention of his sister.

"Of course."

"I've been meaning to ask you about her, by the way," Korra said, "what's her deal exactly? Is she a lesbian or something? What gives?"

"Long story short, Lucy will fuck anything with two legs and a pulse."

"Alex, I'm not going to sugar coat it, obviously what's happened between Korra and I has grown to a...heightened level. And...to be honest...I'm not sure if I want it to end," Asami said. Alex sighed before running his hands over his scalp. She couldn't be saying what he thought she was saying.

"So..does this mean that we're..."

"Let me finish," Asami said, silencing him instantly,"I like what I have with Korra now, but I also still love you. And I know how Korra feels about you. So what I'm purposing is this: we share." Alex blinked.

"Come again?"

"You, Korra, and I, all in a single relationship," Asami said. Alex exhaled sharply before he sat back down on the couch.

"I..I don't know how something like this would even work," he said after several moments of silence.

"Simple. You and I will continue on as we've always done. But we can have our own...private moments with Korra, even at the same time if we want," Asami explained.

"How do you feel about all this?" Alex asked, cocking his eyebrow in Korra's direction. The Avatar gave a shrug.

"I'm still new to all this. But..to be honest..I wouldn't mind giving it a try," she said. Alex sighed again and placed his hands on his forehead.

"Alex, how do you feel about all this?" Asami asked.

"I..I need time to think," he replied before standing up and putting on his hat. Walking to the door, he paused before looking back at the two young women.

"It's not a no," he said, "just need a little bit to get my bearings." With that, he slipped out the door.

Alex didn't so much as walk as he wandered aimlessly. He had a lot of points to consider, and he wanted to be sure that he had thought it over enough so that when he gave the girls his answer, his mind had gone down every possible route.

On the one hand, he liked the possibilities that this situation had to offer. He loved Asami without a doubt, and Korra had her own unique perks to offer as well. Both young women were attractive in their own way, both were smart, and both were tough as nails too boot. On top of it all, both made it clear that they wanted him, and they were willing to share.

However, there were other questions and problems that plagued his mind. Questions of morality, questions of practicality. Alex had hailed from a family and town that held more traditional values at heart. The idea of a relationship between more then two people would have been frowned upon to say the least. It wasn't just his upbringing that was giving him pause, there were some more private fears as well.

What if two of the participants became more focused on each other and began to exclude the third? He cared about both young women in question to not at the very least give this question some thought. Although he figured that Asami probably had a plan for that. The heiress never put a plan forward unless she had given it ample thought, and clearly she had done just that.

Another part of him raised the question if this was some elaborate joke that the two were playing on him. Perhaps they were waiting for him to come back and say yes, only to reveal it was all a ruse to get him to admit that he liked Korra or something. After all, experience had taught him that if something seemed to good to be true, it probably was.

The more rational and logical parts of him quickly dismissed this notion. The hurtful levels of deception and emotional cruelty that would be required for this to be a joke simply weren't possessed either by Asami or Korra. Physically, neither one of them had a problem with beating the crap out of someone. But when it came to someone else's emotions and their state of mind, that was something different.

Asami was more of a tease when it came to getting what she wanted, and she was also something of a loner. If she wanted to put him through the emotional ringer, she would do it herself with a nightgown and her sweetest smile, and chances were he'd come stumbling over himself back for more. Korra, on the other hand, lacked the patience for this kind of thing. If she wanted a laugh at your expense while causing you pain, she'd laugh at the faces you were making while she was punching your teeth down your throat.

 _"_ _So...can I talk now without the threat of death?"_

"Yeah, go ahead," he said.

 _"_ _You got a lot going on up here."_

"Tends to happen in situations like this, I guess."

 _"_ _I'm surprised you're not diving head first into this without a second thought. I've gotten a fair look at both Asami and Korra. Most guys I know wouldn't have given it a second thought."_

"I'm not most guys."

 _"_ _I can see that. And if I hadn't seen the way you look at those two, I would have called you a homo for even considering turning down an offer like this."_

"Gee, thanks."

 _"_ _Hey, believe it or not I get it. You care way too much about both of them to not worry. You're scared of them getting hurt if something gets fucked up."_

"That's...actually pretty insightful, Tessa."

 _"_ _Don't get use to it. I'm rooting for a threesome, so I'm gonna be bias here."_ Alex sighed.

"Why does that not surprise me?"

 _"_ _Did you know that you were Korra's first kiss?"_ Alex came to a halt, a stunned look on his face. It wasn't so much from the revelation itself as it was the sudden bring up of the topic.

"How do you know that?"

 _"_ _Shared her head for a bit while she tried to kill you, remember? Got a look at some of her memories. Granted there was this recruit guard that she stole a peck from a few months before she left the South, but she considers you her first real kiss."_

"Okay, that's like a step above reading someone's diary level of invasion of privacy."

 _"_ _That's not all. She has this reoccurring dream, fantasy thing in which you show up and take her in your arms and..."_

"Tessa."

 _"_ _What?"_

"Either shut up, or I start playing Nickelback."

 _"_ _...You wouldn't dare."_

"Try me," the electric user replied as he began to put his headphones into his ears.

 _"_ _Alright! Alright! You win this round, light bulb."_ Alex smirked to himself as he slipped his headphones back into his pocket. He was standing in front of the Royal Palace now. The building was a sight to behold, a beacon of the power and prosperity the Tribe had regained since the end of the Hundred Year War.

He trotted up the steps, ignoring the various patrols that were around. Logic told him that if he gave them a wide berth and took care not to raise suspicion, he would be left alone. Granted this was the main headquarters where Unalaq had set up shop, but he didn't really consider the man his enemy. In fact, Alex just simply regarded Mercer and Cross as two men to be warey of. Neither one of them had done anything to provoke a response yet. Besides, it was a foolish thing to go rushing into battle without knowing anything about your enemy.

"Hey, you! What's in the bag?" called a soldier. Alex cast a glance toward a patrol off to his right. A group of four had surrounded a man wearing a dark blue parka. He was cradling a rucksack in his arms, and he looked nervous.

"I have my orders to deliver this package to Chief Unalaq himself," the man replied.

"You can give it to me, and I'll give it to the Chief," the soldier said, holding his hand out. But the man moved it away from him.

"No, I have my orders, I have to give it to him directly."

"And who are you exactly?"

"Private Chun, First Battalion, Advanced Guard." Alex turned away from the scene, eager to put some distance between himself and it before things got out of hand.

 _"_ _Wait, his hands. Something was up with that guys hands."_ Pausing at Tessa's words, Alex turned and looked again. His eyes grew when he saw what Tessa was talking about. An orange light was glowing around Chun's hands, and growing in intensity. It looked exactly like the plasma that formed around Lucy's hands when she used her powers.

Chun was a Charged.

"Hey, HEY!" Alex shouted, starting to run forward. Chun looked the soldier in the eye, his gaze appearing both remorseful and resolved.

"I have my orders."

And then the rucksack exploded.

 _Present._

"Your honor, all of the accused are citizens of the Water Tribe, except for one. This is the file on Alexander Chambers," a plaintiff said as he passed a file to the Judge. Alex felt a chill run down his spine. Mercer and Cross would know by now that he had in fact survived his transportation here. And if trouble really started, they would see him coming.

"Mr. Chambers, you have no registered citizenship in any nation, no birth records, no educational records. In fact, up until the events of the Equalist Revolution in the United Republic six months ago, it's as if you don't exist. Even after this, there are only a few scattered reports and a warrant stating that you are wanted for questioning by the Government of the Earth Kingdom," Hotah said before looking down at the teen, "Mr. Chambers, for the record, can you state why exactly you are wanted for questioning?"

Alex swallowed a lump in his throat. This trial, which he had originally attributed to him being in the wrong place at the wrong time, was taking a very drastic turn. They needed a scape goat for the explosion, and him being at the center of it all had given them just that. His head was in the noose before he'd even seen the rope.

"Rebel activity and possible connection with rebel cells," he answered truthfully. Trying to lie his way out of this one or playing dumb wasn't going to help in this situation.

"Let the record show that the defendant has admitted to a violent history of previous terrorist activities. This, coupled with the fact that he was found at the center of the explosion leaves me no choice. I find Alexander Chambers guilty of terrorism against the Water Tribe, and sentence him to death," Hotah said before bringing down his gavel. Alex blinked, absolutely stunned at the sudden ruling.

"Death? You can't do that, he was just a bystander!" Korra shouted. Her words fell on deaf ears as a pair of guards came forward, uncuffed him from the table and began to drag him away. Alex quickly snapped out of his trance and began to fight back.

"Wait, that's it? No jury, no evidence, just coincidence and kill him?! What the hell happened to Due Process?" he yelled at the Judge.

"Guards, get him out of here," Hotah said.

"I'm coming for you, old man! You hear me? I'm coming for you!" Alex yelled as he was dragged out of the courtroom. He was still thrashing about as he was dragged into a long concrete hallway. There were only a few men standing at their posts aside from the pair that had Alex. They stood vigilant and unflinching. Clearly this wasn't the first time a rowdy prisoner had been brought through here.

 _"_ _Maybe threatening the Judge in front of a whole courtroom full of people wasn't your best move."_

"Tessa. Shut. UP!" Alex yelled before give off a large electric shock. The two guards holding him cried out in pain before collapsing. Instantly the other guards were upon him, rushing to take him down. Alex raised his hands and sent out several blasts of electricity. The pair of guards that had been rushing him from the front fell like men made of straw, their uniforms smoldering.

Alex narrowly dodged a spike of ice that sailed past his head from behind, impaling into the wall nearby. He turned and fell into a crouch, sending a bolt into the soldier that had sent the ice at him. The man's body quaked as the current surged through him, and then he joined his comrades on the floor. Alex had barely broken a sweat as he looked over the carnage from his three point stance.

 _"_ _Whoa."_

"Don't get your hopes up yet, we're still no where even close to being free of this place yet."

 _"_ _And what happens when we get to that point?"_

"...I don't know, I'm making this up as I go."

In fact, Alex didn't leave the Palace. Well, not right of the bat anyway. He used all the confusion caused by both the trial and his escape to his advantage, slipping through the hallways and corridors like a mouse. All of the guards had fanned out, assuming that he was making a break for it when in reality he had only one destination in mind; Unalaq's office.

The Chief was still at the trial, so the office stood silent and dark, allowing the electric user to slip in without anyone noticing. He didn't bother leafing through the filing cabinets or the drawers. Anything that Unalaq had that would be of value him now would be hidden someplace, not kept in spots where any secretary could find them.

Closing his eyes, Alex studied the wiring and electric currents around him, using it as a form of sonar to locate anything of value. Sure enough his signals indicated that there was a false bottom in Unalaq's desk. Opening his eyes, he made his way over to the desk and tore open the drawer with the false bottom. Inside, he found what he was hoping for.

Files, all of them marked top secret. Alex couldn't believe what was contained here. An entire financial record of judges and other officials that Unalaq had paid off. On top of that, there were files on Mercer, Cross, Korra, Tonraq, even himself. But what really stood out at him was one file in particular.

"Project First Son?" he whispered to himself.

Flipping it open, the electric user suddenly found himself at a disadvantage. In high school, before the accident that started this whole thing, Alex had found reading to be a passion. After landing here, with everything being in Chinese, his reading skill was suddenly non existent as he spent the past year trying to relearn how to read. He knew enough now that everyday things and most books were easy enough to decipher. Military and government documents on the other hand were a whole different ballgame.

He needed a little help.

* * *

"That son of a bitch!" Korra yelled. They were standing in her parents' living room. Well, Alex was anyway. Korra was pacing back and forth while Asami sat looking through the files.

"You couldn't read all of this?" the heiress asked, ignoring the raging Avatar. Alex made an iffy motion with his hand.

"I wanted to be sure I didn't miss anything, so I deferred to the master," he replied. Asami gave a small smile at the complement before she went back to reading.

"Not a lot of this makes sense. All I can get out of this First Son project is that it involves the opening of these two portals and then the releasing of something called...Vaatu? I think I'm pronouncing that right," she said.

"What's a Vaatu?" Alex asked. Both of the young women shrugged.

"If Unalaq wants something to do with it, I doubt its good," Korra said.

"Still doesn't really explain what Mercer is up to," Alex noted.

"Who cares? That bastard stole the position of Chief from my dad, and then he rigged a trial to get him life in prison and get you the death penalty! How are you not more pissed off about this?!"

"First off, this isn't my first time being on the run from the law. And secondly, I'd like to have at least a little more intel before I fly off the handle," he said.

 _'When I'm lost, I'll never be found. You can bring your guns, and your floods, and your bloodhounds.'_

 _'I'll say, cause once I'm lost, I'll never make a sound, no."_

 _"_ _They'll say, he never made it out, he's gotta be six feet underground.'_

"GOD DAMNIT TESSA, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THE MUSIC?!" Both of the young women jumped at his sudden outburst.

 _"_ _Sorry!"_

"Wow, you have a really bad temper," Korra said. Alex glared at her.

"This coming from the chick who wants to start a civil war cause her dad got thrown in jail and her boyfriend made an outlaw." Korra blinked at his statement.

"Boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?" Asami echoed, arching her eyebrow questioningly at him. Alex sighed at his slip up. He had wanted to wait until a better time to tell them of his decision.

"Yeah. I thought over your proposal and...well, life's too short not to try something at least once, right?" A smile crept onto both of the young womens faces. Asami went back to looking at the files in her lap, and her smile vanished.

"As exciting as this new development is, we got to figure what to do about Korra's dad. It says here they're putting him on a transport and shipping him to the North," she said.

"We won't be able to free him if he makes it there," Alex noted.

"So then we stop him from getting there," Korra said, slamming her fist into her palm.

"But there's still the blockade, how are we going to get past that?" Asami asked. Alex gave a small smirk.

"I think I got a way."

 _"_ _Southern Portal"_

Mercer sat in his tent and overlooked the report of the bombing at the Royal Palace. He was...pleased with the results, both the expected and unexpected. Everything was proceeding according to plan.

"You wanted to see me, Markus?" Cross asked, lifting the flap to his tent.

"Indeed, I did, Matthew. What did you think of our little test?"

"A government building got a face lift, that's a win in my book," Cross replied with a shrug.

"It yielded more then that, my friend. Now our ally has free reign over the entirety of the South with military means. And it also yielded another surprise, one that has slipped under our radar for far to long," the masked man said before holding up a file. Cross took what was offered to him and opened it.

"Chambers?" he asked, looking up in confusion.

"It would seem that our dear Lucy has been lying to us. Her brother survived, and he could be a problem for us."

"You want me to take care of him?" Cross asked, holding his hands up. A dark purple colored energy swirled around his hands.

"Go to the city, find the Chambers siblings. And make sure they're no longer a threat."

 **And that's a wrap for this chapter. Next time around, there will be action galore. You all know the drill, feel free to drop a review, leave a PM, ask a question or ten, let me know what you liked or didn't like and I'll see you all in the next one.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone, I'm back with a new chapter. If you like action, you'll like this one as Cross and Alex have their first dust up. And with that, on with the show:**

"Okay, let me see if I got this straight. You've accused me of being reckless and never taking into consideration the effect of my actions for my entire life, and you have the balls to turn around, torch an Earth Kingdom navel fueling station and in the process steal a torpedo boat," Alex said. He, Lucy, Korra, and Asami were all standing in the heiress' quarters.

"Is there a question or a statement or something in there?" Lucy asked.

"Just one. Does the boat still have the torpedoes in the launchers?"

"Seriously, these two are starting to worry me," Korra whispered into Asami's ear. The two were watching the siblings go back and forth as they discussed their plan for getting out of the South and freeing Korra's dad.

"I've been putting up with Alex longer then you, trust me, I get it," the heiress whispered back.

"So your plan is to what? Blast your way past the navel blockade?" Lucy asked.

"Nooo. We'll need those torpedoes when we catch up to the ship they're holding Korra's dad on," Alex replied.

"Whoa whoa, hold up, you want to blow up the ship my dad is on?!" Korra asked.

"It won't be enough to sink it, just enough to slow it down or stop it."

"You're out of your mind."

"Does anyone else have a method of stopping a warship with only a few benders and a boat?" Alex asked. No one spoke up.

"So what are we gonna do?" Asami asked.

"First things first, we need to round up Mako, Bolin, and June," Alex said. The three young women looked at each other.

"We...may have a problem with Bolin," Lucy said. Alex's storm gray eyes narrowed at his sister and girlfriends.

"What did he do this time?"

 _Varrick's quarters._

"WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME?!" Alex roared at a cowering Bolin. They had walked in and found Mako, June, and Bolin lounging about. Alex had managed to contain himself about Bolin's appearance long enough for Asami to explain the plan before he finally snapped. The earthbender looked like something out of a goth magazine, complete with eyeliner and a skull choker around his neck.

"I..kinda got engaged."

"You do know that the woman is the one that's suppose to wear the necklace, right?" Korra asked.

"You have got to be the most spineless earthbender I have ever seen," Alex added.

"I'm not spineless!"

"Have you even looked in a mirror?! She has your balls buried so deep in her pocket I'm surprised she doesn't have you on a leash yet!"

"...please don't mention the leash." Alex blinked and then blinked again.

"I'm done," he said before turning away from the scene. He started to walk out of the room, but paused next to a stuffed platypus bear. His eyes narrowed before his right fist struck out, punching the animal in the throat. It rocked back and forth from the force of the strike, and a muffled cry came from within.

In a flash, the electric user had his arm in the platypus bear's mouth and down it's throat. The others in the room looked on like he was insane, until he dragged a head back out of the mouth. Varrick thrashed about in uncomfort as Alex held him in place, his hand full of the industrialist's hair.

"There you are you Norman Osborn wannabe. Weren't you suppose to be on trial with the rest of us for crimes against the Water Tribe?" Alex asked.

"I felt I could do more good if I remained free of the clutches of the authorities," Varrick answered.

"'Least you could have done was try to bribe the corrupt judge and gotten us off."

"You're free now aren't you?" he asked, only to grimace when Alex twisted his fist full of hair a little.

"I got the death penalty, you little shit."

"Oh, well what are you mad at me for? I gave the bribe money to Bolin," Varrick said. Alex's eyes narrowed again and his head slowly turned so that he was glaring at the earthbender, who was cowering on the far side of the room.

"I gave it to the wrong guys, I'm sorry!" he said, pleading for his life. Alex raised his free hand and allowed electricity to arc over it.

"I wonder if shock therapy can cure stupidity."

"It can't," Mako deadpanned. Alex remained silent for a second.

"Can we try?"

"FOCUS!"

"Right, right. Alright listen up. I know you overheard our plans, and I know you're gonna wanna try to follow. Do it on your own boat, we got our own and it's already crowded enough as it is. Sell us out to Unalaq or anyone else, and I will personally spit roast both you and your assistant over a shrub fire, we clear?" Varrick nodded to the best of his ability, and with that Alex shoved his head back down the platypus bear's throat and slammed it's jaw closed.

"Alright people, let's do this."

* * *

The torpedo boat bounced over the waves in the harbor. Where his sister had managed to store such a thing without it being found was beyond Alex, but he knew he wasn't in a position to question, and he sure wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"So what exactly is our plan for getting past that?" Mako asked as he pointed toward the looming battleships ahead of them.

"Leave that to us," Alex replied before he and Korra climbed toward the bow of the boat. They stood side by side with their legs bent, keeping their balance as the boat bashed against the waves.

"What is the plan, exactly," she asked. Alex raised his arms as he concentrated on the nearest ship.

"We push it out of the way," he said as he began to concentrate. For a moment, nothing happened, then a deep groan came from within the bowls of the ship, and Alex's look of concentration increased. Korra quickly began to bend the water around the ship, helping him to push it aside. She took a stance matching his and began to focus on bending the water under the ship.

Everyone watched in amazement as the bow of the ship began to rise from the water. Sweat poured down Alex's face as he used his magnetism to raise the steal mass from the water. As this continued, blood began to drip from his nose. This didn't escape Korra's notice either.

"You're...bleeding," she said, grunting against the immense weight they were fighting against.

"Throw...it...one, two, three!" Alex said. The two of them heaved their arms forward and the ship splashed back down into the sea, listing badly to port as if a massive wave had just rolled over it before it rightened itself out again, well out of the path of the boat. The pair fell to their knees, panting from the effort.

"I can't believe we did it," Korra said in amazement, looking up at the ship as they passed.

"You're the Avatar, this kind of thing should be a breeze for you," Alex replied, giving her a smile. Korra returned the smile, and for the first time since the trial, she actually looked happy.

"Let me go!" came Asami's voice from the wheelhouse behind them. They looked back, just in time to see Bolin, Mako, and June get blown back to the stern. A puff of dark smoke appeared on the bow of the battleship above them. When it cleared, Cross and Asami were standing there, the hooded man gripping the heiress by her upper arm.

"Asami!" Alex shouted, pushing himself to his feet.

"Don't think you'll be going back to Republic City without your girlfriend, Chambers!" Cross called before they vanished in another cloud of smoke.

"Find your dad, I'll get Asami," Alex said over his shoulder before he took off at a sprint.

"Good luck!" Korra called as he bounded off the railing and sent a blast of static electricity downward, launching himself into the air. He caught the railing of the ship with ease and pulled himself onto the deck. The crew members were still disoriented from the ship being moved, and he easily slipped past them as he gave chase to Cross.

 _"_ _He'll be headed for the Portal."_

 _"_ _I know."_ Alex reached the stern of the ship and spotted Cross standing with Asami on the docks. He was waiting, watching to see if Alex would give chase. Spying a nearby boat that was set to be lowered into the water and piloted by a single man, the electric user wasted no time in jumping into the boat.

He blasted both of the hooks holding the boat up, sending them into free fall towards the water. Alex ignored the water that splashed over him when they landed, silently thankful that his jacket was waterproof. Turning toward the sailor at the wheel, he raised a single hand.

"Drive toward that dock," he ordered, his hand arcing with electricity. The sailor hurriedly nodded, his eyes wide with fear as he slammed the throttle forward and spun the wheel. In an instant, they were speeding directly toward Cross and Asami. Alex watched as Asmai struggled against her captor, trying to break free from his grip. But Cross held on, ignoring her as he watched Alex speed toward him. The electric user was glaring daggers at him, but even under the hood he could see the other man grin.

As the boat neared the dock, the pair vanished in another puff of smoke. Alex leapt to the dock and looked around, trying to spot them. He spotted them standing at the end of the dock, facing him. Alex took off at a sprint, knowing that he had to keep them in view otherwise he would lose them. Just as he got close, they vanished and reappeared again, this time on a nearby rooftop.

Running up a few crates, Alex jumped and landed on top of a power line. He rode the line like he would a rail or cable, speeding towards the pair in the process. Just as they were getting ready to disappear again, Asami brought her kneecap up into Cross' crouch before punching him in the mouth. She managed to get free and ran toward the edge of the rooftop, fully intending to jump at Alex and safety.

Cross, however, recovered much faster then she planned. He appeared behind her, grabbing her around her midriff and yanking backwards, using his body to privet her feet off the ground. Asami screamed in frustration and kicked furiously while sending elbows back towards him, trying to break free again.

"Come get us at the Portal!" Cross shouted before a cloud of smoke enveloped them. Alex bounded off the power line and landed in the middle of the cloud. But he was too late. Both Cross and Asami were long gone. They didn't reappear anywhere in sight, an Alex let out a howl of frustration. He had lost them. After a few minutes of pacing and struggling to get his temper under control, Alex began to walk.

 _"_ _I know what you're thinking. For the record it's crazy to go to the Portal."_

"So stay here."

 _"_ _Unfortunately for us both, I like crazy."_

"I thought it was my witty charm and good looks that kept you around."

 _"_ _Don't let it go to your head, cowboy. Just cause you got two girlfriends and superpowers doesn't mean you're hot shit."_

"Doesn't it?"

 _"_ _Just keep your head down when we get there, there's two of us up here, remember?"_

 _The Southern Portal._

Alex stepped off of the snowmobile and readjusted the shemagh that covered his mouth and nose. The ice that had covered the trees of the forest had long since receded thanks to the opening of the portal. High above, the aurora danced in the sky, snaking out from the beam of the portal in all directions. Taking off his hat, Alex raised his hood before he walked into the forest.

 _"_ _So this is what you looked like as a vigilante? Not a bad get up."_

"It's functional."

 _"_ _Yeah, all you need now is a cool name."_

"I'm not giving myself a name."

 _"_ _Oh yeah, cause 'Electric Vigilante' is such a better alternative."_

"That one was given to me, I didn't have a choice in it," Alex said as he stepped over a fallen log.

 _"_ _So then pick one of your own. I mean you throw lightning right? Why not something like 'Storm Man' or 'Thunderbolt'?"_

"Do you even hear yourself, Tessa?"

 _"_ _Hurricane?"_

"What, exciting at first and then ends in disaster?"

 _"_ _Okay, hot shit. You come up with a name then."_

"I already did." With that, Alex stepped into the clearing at the heart of the forest. The light of the portal swirled about in its pillar, casting a glow on the area around it. On the far end of the clearing stood a pair of Northern soldiers. They held Asami firmly in their grasp between them, leaving the heiress dwarfed in comparison. A tall man wearing a cloak with its hood up was standing with his back to Alex, while a second stood off to the side. He recognized them as Mercer and Cross respectively.

"So. This is the great Electric Vigilante of Republic City?" Mercer asked without turning about. Alex's gaze shot daggers at Cross, who had turned to regard him.

"Your man bitch has something of mine." Cross' eyes flared and he started toward Alex, but a hand from Mercer stopped him.

"Patience, Matthew, patience. You did kidnap his girlfriend, it's only logical that he should be a little irate," he said before turning to face Alex. The electric user couldn't see the man's face thanks to the mask. His posture reminded him of Amon, only the mask was a dark gray metal rather then a porcelain white.

"I'm glad you could join us. I have an offer for you."

"You couldn't just send a telegram like a normal person?"

"I wanted to insure that I have your attention," Mercer said.

"Oh trust me, you got it."

"Good. Now, answer me this question; why is it that you would be so set against there being more people like you? Look at all these fantastical things you can do, why wouldn't you want more people to be like that?" Mercer asked.

"What are you getting at, Mercer?"

"As I'm sure you're aware, the Portal spews out Rift Energy. Now if a bender is exposed to this energy, it's harmless, but you if were to expose someone else, say, the non bending CEO of Future Industries?" he said before snapping his fingers.

Instantly, the soldiers holding Asami began to drag her toward the portal. The heiress began to kick and thrash, trying to get free. But their grip proved too much as she was drug closer and closer to the pillar of light. Alex took a few steps forward, his hands arcing with electricity. Cross took a few steps as well, like a wolf ready to pounce, his own hands glowing with purple energy.

"Let her go," Alex growled.

"Why fight it? Let it happen! Imagine what more she could accomplish."

"You're not giving her a choice, that's my problem with it," Alex said.

"Nature doesn't give choices to those that evolve. It either happens, or you die. It's a simple as that," Mercer said.

"You take away free will, you take away a big chunk of what it means to be human. What's the point then?" Alex asked. Mercer sighed, but Alex ignored him and focused on Asami. She was beginning to cough as she got closer to the beam of light, and blood was leaking from her nose.

"I had hoped you would see the logic in my actions. But it would appear I was wrong. Harmonic Convergence is upon us, Mr. Chambers. And we will redefine mankind with or without your help," he said. Asami was starting to hemorrhage now, and it was clear that she was in pain. The blood flow from her nose only increased.

"Last chance. End this now," Alex growled.

"Oh I intend too. Matthew, you may deal with him," Mercer said before turning away. Cross' wolf like grin spread across his face. In a puff of smoke, he appeared directly in front of Alex, knocking the electric user off his feet with an uppercut to the jaw before vanishing again. Alex blinked and shook his head before pushing himself to his feet again.

Cross bounced back and forth across the clearing, appearing randomly at several different points and never staying in one spot for longer then the span of a few seconds. Alex broke a branch off a tree and began to walk toward the two soldiers holding Asami. Just as he predicted, Cross teleported in front of him to head him off.

Rather then wait for him to strike, Alex broke the branch over Cross' head before zapping him with a decent sized bolt of lightning. The dark energy user was left stunned and simmering on the ground, allowing his opponent to hull the half of the stick still in his hand at one of the soldiers. The hunk of wood rebounded off the man's head, causing him to stumble and lose his grip on the heiress.

Asami, despite being in pain and on the verge of passing out, instantly saw her chance. She jumped into the air, driving the heel of her boot into face of the one soldier still holding her in a roundhouse kick. Now free, she began to half run half stumble toward the edge of the clearing.

"Oh no you don't," came Cross' voice from behind the electric user. Alex's eyes went wide and he instantly launched himself forward with a blast of static electricity. He sailed through the air toward Asami, holding his arms wide. In a flash, a puff of smoke appeared around the heiress, briefly revealing Cross as he grabbed Asami by the wrists.

In that same instant, Alex tackled both of them in a bear hug, plowing through the cloud of smoke without any restraint. Then another puff appeared, and the three of them were gone. For a moment, Alex saw nothing but darkness. He could hear nothing, see nothing, it was as if all of his senses had suddenly shut off.

Then, all at once, his senses returned, and Alex felt himself slam into something hard. People screamed, and the sound of tires squealing on asphalt filled the air. The first thing he noted was the sudden change in temperature. It wasn't the frigid temperatures of the South Pole, but rather the warm mid summer of a more temperate location. With a groan, Alex forced his eyes open. He blinked in confusion, as the cityscape before him was upside down. Wait, the world wasn't upside down, he was.

 _"_ _Dude, you just cratered a car."_ Alex looked at his body and realized that she was right. He had slammed into the drivers door of a satomobile and had caved a good portion of the metal in.

"Ouuch," he moaned as he pealed himself from the door and stood upright. Asami was a short distance away, her hand on her forehead as she tried to stand under her own power. Her upper lip was crimson from the blood that had finally stopped flowing from her nose.

"You okay?" he asked, pointing at her. She nodded before glaring down the street where Cross lay, her face resembling the snarl of a wolf that had just torn into prey. The dark energy user was lying face down in a crater in the middle of the street, his clothing smoking. Then, slowly, he began to push himself to his feet.

"I'm gonna rip that son of a bitch's dick off," Asami snarled as she wiped the blood off of her face with the back of her fist. Gone was any sign of the polite, rich, young businesswoman that was Asami's usual persona. In it's place was the pure hellfire like fury of a woman scorned.

"Hey, darlin', why don't you let me handle this one?" Alex asked.

"Why should I?" she asked, although she wobbled a little on her feet.

"You're having trouble standing under your own power," Alex deadpanned.

"I can handle him."

"I know you can, when you're at peak condition. Tell you what, I'll have a few goes with him and then I can tap you in, how's that sound?" he asked. Asami continued to glare at Cross, who had finally made it to his feet. Even from this distance, they could see his shoulders heaving as he panted very heavily.

"Fine. Just don't have all the fun," Asami sighed. With that, Alex began to stride up the street toward Cross. From the buildings around them, he could hear the people starting to talk amongst themselves.

"Is that...?"

"It can't be."

"Beifong declared him dead, I hear the broadcast myself!"

"It can't be him..."

"It is!"

"He's back! The Electric Vigilante is back!"

"Seems like you've got quite the following, Electric Vigilante," Cross said with a sneer. Even though he looked like he was about to collapse, the man made it clear that he thought his opponent was every bit beneath him.

"I don't go by that anymore," Alex said as he walked closer.

"Oh? And what does the high and mighty call himself these days?" Cross asked. Alex slammed his palm into Cross' chest, and a powerful blast of static electric sent him flying. The dark energy user was thrown backwards, smashing through a cabbage cart.

"MY CABBAGES!" Alex ignored the man as he walked forward and grabbed Cross by the collar before hoisting him upwards.

"My name is Tempest." With that he threw Cross as hard as he could. The dark energy user flew a short distance before hitting the pavement and rolling thanks to the kinetic energy. He managed to roll into a three point stance as he brought himself to a halt, looking at Alex with a hungry gleam in his eye.

"Who's that other guy?"

"He doesn't look like a Triad or an Equalist."

"Wait, look at his hands, what's he doing?"

"Oh SHIT! SUPERHERO FIGHT! RUN!" People screamed and began to flee as the purple color covered Cross' body. With a yell, he threw his hand out toward Alex, sending a ball of purple colored energy his way. The electric user dove to the side, dodging the ball as it sailed past and cratered a Satomobile in a ball of fire.

Alex countered with a few lightning blasts, preferring to remain quick and on his feet and using light strikes to wear down his opponent. Cross countered, bringing his arm up like vertically he was holding a shield. Instantly a wall of the purple energy formed, taking the bolts of lightning with ease. He wasted no time in lowering the shield and throwing some more balls of energy. Alex bobbed and weaved, avoiding the deadly incoming projectiles before seeking cover in a nearby alley entrance. More fire raced skyward as a pair of satomobiles detonated.

"I'm impressed. Transporting three people to Republic City and still having enough energy to fight, that takes talent!" Alex called. The brick wall he was leaning against suddenly shattered and forced him to the ground as Cross plowed through it.

"I hate ass kissers," Cross replied. He leveled his hands, and suddenly Alex found himself covered in the same purple energy. Suddenly he was flying through the air and slamming headfirst into the door of a nearby car. But Cross wasn't done with him yet, slamming him into lamp posts, walls, the sidewalk, and more cars. He even shattered a windshield with Alex's face. And it was at that point that Alex had finally had enough.

He threw his hand out in Cross' direction, and a bolt of lightning much more powerful then the ones he'd used before covered the distance between the two in the blink of an eye. Instantly Cross was launched backward, smashing through the shop front window behind him.

Alex landed in an ungraceful heap, coming to a halt lying face down in the street. He groaned as he began to push himself up. His body had taken a lot of damage, and he could tell that unless something changed, he would be out of the fight soon. The sound of boots crunching on glass reached his ears, and he looked up to find Cross standing in the window. The center of his chest had a smoldering black spot from where the bolt had struck him, and his hair stood on end from under his hood.

"Not a bad shot," he wheezed out. The purple energy was starting to pulse and flicker, looking like it would go out at any second.

"Give it up, Cross. You're almost out of energy. Can't keep this up forever."

"I have enough to kill you," he said, raising his hand.

"Then what? RCPD will be here soon. And they will eat your defenseless ass alive for all this," Alex said, motioning to the destruction around them. Cross visibly hesitated. He looked like he was having an actual argument with himself as Alex slowly and painfully got to his feet.

"This isn't over, Chambers," Cross finally said, pointing at Alex.

"I look forward to it," came the reply. And with that, Cross vanished in a puff of smoke. As he hobbled back to Asami, Alex took a moment to look over the destruction his fight with Cross had caused. Several cars were flaming wrecks, while others had massive dents, shattered windshields, or had just been crushed in general.

Shop fronts hadn't been spared either, with some having simply a shattered window and caved in door, while a few look like a bus had plowed through them.

 _"_ _Holy shit, dude."_ Alex ignored the voice in his head as he focused on Asami. The heiress was standing at the edge of the field of destruction with her arms folded as she waited on him. Alex didn't stop as he walked straight up to her, gently took her jaw in his hand and turned her head one way, then the other.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"You were exposed to Rift Energy. I'm checking to see if there were any side effects," he replied.

"I feel fine."

"You had the exact same symptoms I had when I was exposed," Alex replied, giving her a look. Asami frowned at that.

"Are you saying...I'm a Charged?"

"I don't know yet. Only time will tell," he replied before releasing her from his grip. Asami let out a sigh as she looked at her boots.

"Waiting for the others to get here, waiting to see if I develop powers, something tells me that I'm really gonna start to hate waiting," she said. Alex pulled down his shemagh and gave her a smile.

"I'll be right here with you the whole time," he promised. Asami smiled and gave him a quick kiss. In the distance, they heard the siren of a police airship on approach.

"We should get moving, don't want to be here when the cops show." With that, the two began to limp off, with Alex leaning on Asami for support more then he would have liked.

"Did you call yourself Tempest?" she asked after they had walked a couple of blocks.

"Yeah, what do you think?"

"Better then Electric Vigilante by a long shot if you ask me," she said. Alex smiled and gave her another kiss.

 _"_ _Oh gross!"_

 _"_ _TESSA!"_

 **And cut. This chapter took a little longer then I would have liked to get out, thanks in part to me spending a lot of my time killing people with a shovel in the trenches of Battlefield 1. But, it's finally here, and that is that. Drop a review, leave a PM, let me know what you liked or didn't like in this chapter and I'll see you all in the next one.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter. It's later and shorter then I would have liked, but it's something new all the same. So with that, let's get a move on:**

"How did you two get back to the city?" Korra asked as she stepped off the torpedo boat. Alex and Asami were standing on the dock, waiting as the rest of the Team disembarked.

"Let's just say it wasn't the least painful way possible," Alex replied, casting a glance down the dock. Lin was there as well, standing a short distance away with her arms crossed. After Alex's fight with Cross, she had tried to arrest him at the very least on charges of destruction of both city and private property. However, given that Alex had his face hidden during the entire fight, none of the witnesses could actually place him at the scene, thus she had been forced to let him go free.

"Did you free your dad?" Asami asked as she embraced the Avatar in a brief hug.

"Yeah. He's staying down south to help the rebels, we're suppose to try and convince the President to get the United Republic to help them," she replied.

"Good luck with that," Alex said. Korra glared at him.

"Wow, thanks for the support."

"For an Avatar you sure don't pay attention to politics. You're never gonna convince Raiko to go to war, not without hard proof of a direct threat to the Republic," Alex said.

"What makes you so sure?" she asked. Alex pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Jesus Christ that's what he campaigned on. I wasn't even in the United Republic during the election and I knew that, what have you been doing for the past six months?"

"Umm..." the two young women cast a glance at each other, causing Alex to hold up his hands.

"On second thought, I don't wanna know. Actually, on third thought, I do want to know, just tell me later in private," he said. Before either one of them could respond, Lin came walking up to them.

"Welcome back, Avatar. Thanks for starting a war," she said, her tone clearly sarcastic.

"I didn't start a war! Well, I did, but it's more complicated then you're making it," Korra defended. Lin gave her a look before turning her attention to Mako, who was walking up with his arm around June.

"Mako, I need you back on the beat. There's a Southern Water Tribe peace march tonight. We need to make sure things don't get out of hand," she said. The firebender gave his girlfriend an apologetic look before looking back at his boss.

"I'll be there," he said.

"I should go too, the people need to see that the Avatar supports them," Korra said.

"Great, that should calm them down," Lin said as she rolled her eyes before walking away. Mako, June, and Bolin went after her, leaving the remaining three standing on the dock alongside Lucy. She started up the dock as well, but stopped and looked back at her brother and his girlfriends.

"Why is it that you always turn up in the most unexpected places?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, sis," Alex replied. Lucy grinned at her brother before setting off again. Once she was gone, Korra quickly hugged both Asami and Alex while placing a kiss on each of their cheek.

"I'm so happy to see you guys alright. When that guy took you and then neither one of you came back, I started to get worried we'd left you behind down there," she said. Asami placed her hand on Korra shoulder.

"We're fine, just a few bumps and bruises, nothing more," she said with a smile.

"And...an entire city block smashed up," Alex added, rubbing the back of his head.

"Why is it that you can't go anywhere without destroying something?" Korra asked, prompting Alex to put his hands up in defense.

"I don't know, it's not like I go looking for this stuff," he replied. Asami smirked at the two as they went back and forth.

"Alright you two, I gotta get back to the factory. Try not to do anything that will land you two in prison," the heiress said before turning and heading up the dock. Both Korra and Alex watched her go.

"I hate it when she says her hips like that," he noted when she was out of earshot.

"Me too..." Korra agreed, her voice being a little dreamy. Alex cocked his eyebrow at her, but he quickly passed it off and decided to change topics.

"So what now?"

"I was gonna go find out more about this peace march," Korra said.

"It's happening tonight, in front of the Southern Cultural Center," he informed her.

"Oh. Well in that case I don't really have anything to do. What were you gonna do?" she asked. Alex simply shrugged.

"I dunno. I guess we could go do something together. That is what people who are dating do, right?" he asked.

"Really?"

"Hey, this whole three way relationship thing may still be new to me, but I'm open to anything it has to offer. So, got any ideas on what you want to do?" he asked. Korra flashed him a smirk, the kind which made his blood run cold.

"I got the perfect thing."

* * *

"Son of a bitch, this isn't what I had in mind!" Alex said as he stumbled backwards. Korra pressed her attack, swinging her fists at him as she aimed at his face. Alex managed to bob and weave, avoiding most of the strikes while fending off the remaining ones with his forearms, glancing her punches just enough so they missed their target.

They were currently in a small dojo at the Sato Estate. Although it was stocked with protective gear for training, the only thing the two had on were wrappings around their hands to protect their knuckles. Alex's hat and jacket hung from a nearby rack, leaving him only in a pair of trousers and an undershirt. They had agreed to only do some basic sparing, no powers or bending, although Alex was quickly finding out that Korra didn't hold anything back, even in the hand to hand that she knew.

Korra threw a punch out, but overextended herself in the process. Alex had managed to sidestep the punch before grabbing on to her arm. He turned and flipped her over his body, causing her to land flat on her back staring up at him.

"You know, you're not half bad in a fist fight," he said. Korra smirked before swinging her foot, sweeping Alex's feet out from underneath of him. The electric user landed flat on his back as well, and before he could react, Korra was on top of him, pinning him to the floor.

"I could say the same. Although you are a little sloppy, getting into this position," she said, "After all, now I can do whatever I want with you." A gleam in his storm gray eyes made the Avatar's blood run cold.

"Is that what you think?" he asked before striking a knuckle on the back of her calf. Instantly Korra's leg locked up in pain, and she toppled off of him with a yelp. Before she could fully react, Alex had completely reversed the situation, only he took the precaution of pinning her arms to the floor on either side of her head.

"You cheated," she growled up at him.

"Rule one of street fighting, cheat," he replied.

"If that's the case, I could just roast you and call it a win," she said. Alex smirked down at her.

"You wouldn't do that. You like my ugly mug too much." Korra perked her lips up at him.

"You're right. I do." Alex got to his feet and offered a hand to help Korra up, which she took.

"So if you don't mind me asking, how have you and Tessa been getting along?" she asked. Alex pulled his phone from his pocket and held it up a little.

"He's been a royal pain in the ass!" came Tessa's voice from the speakers. The Avatar began to inspect the device without actually touching it. She'd seen it several times before, but only in passing moments, never up close like this.

"Wow, how are you two doing that?" she asked.

"Never mind that! I've been stuck with this halfwit for almost three weeks now, I got grievances to get off my non existent chest!" Tessa replied. Korra cocked her eyebrow at Alex.

"What have you been doing?"

"We had a mild disagreement..."

"Mild, hell, this is war, sparkles!"

"..over what I'm calling myself as the vigilante," Alex finished, ignoring Tessa's interruption. Korra's face was one of surprise.

"You started being a vigilante again? I thought after Kelly you were giving all that up," she said.

"I was. But after talking with a few people I realized that I was just wasting my skills by not doing anything. So I started beating up on triads again," he explained.

"All while being the laughing stock of the city! I mean honestly, Tempest? TEMPEST? What kind of name is that?!" Tessa asked. Alex clicked a little switch on the side of his phone, setting it to vibrate and silencing the electric woman.

"I think that is enough of that."

 _"_ _OH FUCK NO! I KNOW YOU DID NOT JUST MUTE ME!"_ Alex cringed as the electric woman screeched in his head, but he slipped his phone back into his pocket all the same. Korra gave him a look of sympathy. Although she couldn't hear Tessa, she didn't doubt for a second that she was screaming at Alex in rage.

At that moment, a phone on the far wall began to ring. The electric user crossed to it, and proceeded to head butt the wall next to the phone. Korra cringed as she watched this. Alex took the phone from the receiver while rubbing the middle of his forehead. Sometimes he wondered if the efforts he went to to get Tessa to shut up were worth it.

"Sato Residence. Oh, hey 'Sami. Wait, what? Slow down, I can't...Asami...ASAMI! Look we'll be there as fast as we can just don't do anything," he said before he hung up the phone. Korra's face was one of concern now as he turned back to her.

"You're not gonna believe this..."

* * *

"Whoa. Not what I had in mind when you said you wanted to redecorate," Korra said as she and Alex walked into Asami's office. A good chunk of the room was covered in ice. The heiress herself was sitting in her chair, her arms folded around her midsection like she was giving herself a hug. At the sight of her two companions, she sprung to her feet and hurried too them.

"I'm so glad to see you two," she said, reaching out her hands to hug them. Her hand brushed against Alex's arm first, causing the electric user to jerk back as if he'd just been burned.

"Ah! Jesus!" he exclaimed, noting the skin where she had just made contact turning an angry red color. Asami immediately jumped back, taking care not to touch either of them. Alex turned his attention from his arm to hers. A white mist was falling off of them, and her skin seemed paler then usual.

"It happened, didn't it?" he asked. The heiress could only nod numbly.

"Wait, what happened?" Korra asked.

"Mercer and Cross exposed Asami to Rift energy at the portal. She's a Charged now," Alex said.

"A Charged? So Asami, you did all this?"

"Yes, but I don't know how! I can't control it!" Asami replied, sounding like she was on the verge of hysteria. Alex quickly held up his hands.

"Asami, you need to calm down. Powers are effected by emotions," he said. The heiress took several shuttering breaths, but managed to do as he asked.

"Korra, do you think you could maybe clean some of this up?" he asked. The Avatar nodded and went to work on thawing out Asami's office. Meanwhile, the two Charged remained in the center of the room.

"Asami, hold your hand up," Alex instructed. The heiress looked confused.

"Why do you want me to do that?" she asked.

"Just trust me, it's a little experiment I want to try," he answered. Asami slowly raised her hand and held it so that her palm was facing him. She looked nervous, like she was afraid that she would suddenly turn him into a block of ice. Given the current state of the office, it wasn't something he could really blame her for.

Alex held up his own hand, a few arcs of electricity dancing between his fingers. The tips of their fingers just barely brushed against each other when a wall of ice began to form, suspended between the two of them. Inside the ice were wild zigzagging branches formed from the electricity. It was beautiful and mesmerizing to watch.

"Wow," Asami breathed, watching as the ice spread.

"If you thought we were a good team before, imagine what we can do now," Alex said.

 _Sato Mansion, the following day._

"How do you think Korra's meeting with the President is going?" Asami asked as she raised her hand and a froze a glass of water a short distance away. The temperature plummeted so fast that the glass itself shattered, leaving only a block of ice in it's place. This caused the heiress to jump, as she had not been expecting this result.

"About as well as this glass fared if you want the truth. You need to concentrate harder, imagine a thermometer and it's going down at a steady pace," Alex instructed. Based upon observations done over the past twelve hours, he had deduced that Asami's new powers didn't actually have control over ice, but rather control over temperature. She could remove the energy out of a spot at a high rate of speed, thus causing it to rapidly cool and cause the water molecules in the air to freeze, thus giving the illusion of ice control.

"You have a very negative outlook on this whole thing," Asami noted as she focused on the next glass, this time lowering the temperature much more slowly.

"I have a realistic look. It's a well known fact that after the Hundred Year War no one wants to fight anymore. Convincing Raiko to go to war unprovoked? Please, I stand a better chance of finding my way back to where I came from." At that moment, Korra came walking in. It was clear by the look on her face that she wasn't happy.

"Speak of the devil and she shall appear. How'd it go?" Alex asked.

"Terribly. You'd think after the bombing at the cultural center last night he'd be up in arms, but Raiko doesn't think there's an immediate threat to the Republic, so he's not gonna help," she said as she folded her arms.

"I could donate some mecha tanks to the rebels," Asami offered, "it's not much but it's better then nothing."

"Thanks. But what they really need is man power. If I could just...wait, I know! I could talk to General Iroh, he'd be willing to help," Korra said.

"That's not a good idea. Iroh is bound by the chain of command, so whatever Raiko says goes," Alex countered.

"What if they're training and accidentally bump into the Northern Fleet? They'd have to defend themselves," Asami said.

"Not a good idea either. It wouldn't take long for either Raiko or someone on his staff to figure out what happened. Iroh would lose his commission, and probably be thrown in jail for war crimes."

"Well, I don't here you coming up with any plans!" Korra snapped.

"Ah, but I actually have one," Alex said, remaining calm.

"You do?"

"Yes. Just on the other side of the Earth Kingdom border, there's a rebel outpost on the edge of the mountains. And the command structure of said organization just so happens to owe me a favor or two," Alex said.

"That's great! Let's go, let's go right now!" Korra said, her excitement returning and getting the better of her.

"Um.."

"What?"

"I'm kinda in the middle of helping Asami..." Alex said, motioning toward the blocks of ice. Korra looked crestfallen, and a little embarrassed that she had tried to interrupt this.

"It's okay, Lucy can help me," Asami said. Alex and Korra looked at each other.

"You're sure?" he asked.

"Korra needs your help more. Go, Lucy and I will be fine," the heiress said with a smile. Alex looked around the room there were in like it was the last time he would be seeing it. This didn't escape either Korra or Asami's notice.

"What?" Korra asked.

"Nothing. We should get some stuff together and get moving," Alex replied. The two didn't pack much, just a change of clothes for each of them and some spare cash. Asami lent them a motorcycle, which Alex wound up driving because of Korra's lack of ability to drive anything. Before either of them knew it, they were on a road passing through the mountains with Republic City behind them.

Korra rode just behind Alex, her arms wrapped around his midsection and her hair blown back by the wind. Once they crossed the border into the Earth Kingdom, it was apparent that things were quite different. The conditions of the road deteriorated, turning from a well maintained path into little more then a dirt trail.

"This sucks," Korra said as they bounced over several bumps.

"Why do you think there's a rebellion going on? The Queen over taxes the population, and then gives nothing back," Alex replied. They rode a few more miles before Alex brought the bike to a halt. The electric user studied the landscape around them. They were in a narrow valley next to a small stream, surrounded by pine trees.

"What is it?" Korra asked. Alex killed the engine and lowered the kickstand.

"Get off the bike, and walk forward with your hands up," he instructed. Korra did as she was told, following Alex slowly with her hands raised. They had walked about twenty yards from the motorcycle before the underbrush suddenly exploded. Several fighters, both male and female, surrounded them. They were all wearing browns, grays, and greens, and using autocross.

"Hi, how are ya?" Alex asked with a grin, "Take us to Yalishanda Shi."

 **And that's a wrap. Asami has powers, and Korra and Alex are in kind of a tight spot. How do you think this is gonna play out? Drop a review, leave a PM, ask a question or two, and I'll see you all next time.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys, I'm back...and late...so very very late. I should have had this chapter out months ago. Between other projects and trying to finish up the crossover with Avatar Conner, this kinda got put to the back burner. But I've got it out now! So please, refrain from taking my head for at least the time being. Let's get on with the show:**

This was not how Asami pictured her weekend going. She was use to doing company paperwork, or adding the finishing touches on a new design, or even relaxing by the pool when the weekend came by. Throwing balls of ice at her boyfriend's sister while listening to some other worldly music was not even in the top hundred scenarios she had thought of.

 _'Hot sticky scenes, you know what I mean._

 _Like a desert sun that burns my skin._

 _I've been waiting for her for so long._

 _Open the sky and let her come down.'_

"Come on, actually hit me!" Lucy yelled before pointing at the heiress. A beam of orange light erupted from her extended finger, closing the distance between the two and exploding in Asami's face, launching her backwards into the wall behind her. She slid down the wall, landing in a heap. Shaking her head, she pushed herself back to her feet before throwing her own hand out.

The air around Lucy's hand plummeted in temperature, freezing it in a solid block of ice. Lucy's eyes went wide before the block exploded, sending shards everywhere. Lucy stood to her full height, blowing smoke away from her hand as she looked at the heiress with a predatory smile.

"That's more like it." Asami gulped, realizing the world of hurt she had just gotten herself into.

Surely Alex and Korra were having a better time then she was.

* * *

"Keep moving!" came a yell, along with a jab from a rather sharp pike. Alex stumbled in order to get away from the point but managed to keep from falling flat on his face.

"Do that again, see what happens!" he snapped at his guard. The pair was being led down a small wooded path. Their hands were tied behind their backs, and their arms were bound to their sides. Several autocross were leveled at them in case they managed to get free.

"Alex can you PLEASE refrain from pissing these guys off," Korra said.

"I'll refrain from anything you ask me to, as long as this asshat here stops trying to harvest my kidney!" Alex quipped, glaring at the rebel that held the pike. The Avatar just sighed in response before trudging forward.

The narrow path suddenly opened up into the wide clearing of a large creek. A small wooden plank bridge had been built across the water. Young children played in the clear gurgling water below, while older women washed clothing. Many of them looked up in curiosity at the new comers as they were forced across the bridge and into the tree line on the other side.

"Raijin, why are these two not blindfolded?" came the yell of a woman as she stormed toward the group. She was about Korra's height, with light frizzled brown hair that stopped just past her ears and gray eyes.

"They wanted to see you, Yali," the young man who held the pike replied. There was a small smirk on his face, as if he was expecting her to react badly to the name, which she did.

"I told you not to call me that!" she snapped before turning her attention to the two captives. She placed her hands on her hips and gave Alex a disapproving glare.

"You got a lot of brass, coming back here, Chambers," she said.

"She needs your help. And you owe me," Alex replied, jerking his head in Korra's direction. She pursed her lips and shook her head.

"What I must have done in a past life to become indebted to you," she muttered to herself before turning her attention to Korra, "and you are?"

"I'm Avatar Korra, and I'm looking for military aid," Korra answered.

"Military aid, huh? Sister you came to the wrong valley for that. All I got here is old women, young children, and idiots who can barely handle a crossbow much less fight a conventional army," she said.

"Fine. Then I want to talk to the person in charge," Korra said.

"You're yapping at her. I'm Colonel Yalishanda Shi, commander of the Western Sectors," the woman said as she folded her arms across her chest. Korra looked startled at this revelation.

"A colonel? But you're what, twenty? How did you get that rank this young?" she asked.

"Luck of the draw as it would so happen. And what I said stands, you two came to the wrong place looking for help."

"Look, can we just go some place more private and talk about this?" Alex asked as he glanced around. They were starting to draw a crowd of onlookers. Shi must have noticed this as well, because she turned and motioned for them to follow. The pair were led through a semi permanent village, built into a rather large hillside out of logs harvested from the surrounding forest. Many of the structures were little more then dugouts carved into the hill, others were just some basic foundations and thatch roofs with canvas for walls. Stepping inside one of the larger dugouts, Shi turned and motioned to the guards.

"Free them," she said. Raijin looked back and forth between them and her.

"You sure?"

"Damn right I'm sure. This is the Avatar and one of the Boss's top guys. They go free, now."

"But..."

"You questioning my order, Rai?" Shi asked. The pike-man's face visibly paled.

"No I..."

"Then do what I say, and get out before I lose my temper," Shi ordered. Raijin hurried to cut the rope binding the two before he left the dugout. When he was gone, Shi sighed and lit a small oil lamp on a desk with a match.

"Sorry about all that. It's standard procedure to tie up anyone we capture," she explained.

"I get that. What I don't get is you not being willing to hear out a person in need," Alex said as he rubbed his wrists. Shi sighed as she leaned on the desk.

"What I said down by the creek is true, Alex. I don't have the means of fighting a conventional army. What you saw on the way in is what I got. Spirits, I barely have the means to keep what I got fed," she said.

"What about Jason?" Shi snorted.

"The Boss? I haven't had contact with him or any of his units in over a month. He's gone deep, hiding under a rock somewhere in the desert like a lizard hiding from the sun," she explained.

"Please, the world is in danger here," Korra said, trying her hand.

"I'd love to help. But neither of you seem to grasp what's going on here," Shi said before smoothing out a map of the area, "Hou-Ting's forces are swarming all over these mountains. I can't march anything larger then a platoon out of this valley without getting spotted by them. And even if I could, where would we go? The United Republic? At best we'd be turned back at the boarder. Your President isn't going to risk an international incident over a group of ragtag rebels."

"So what? I'm suppose to go back and tell the Southerners they're on their own?" Korra asked, bitterness in her voice. A downtrodden look crossed Shi's face. This, combined with the look of exhaustion made it clear just how much was bearing down on the young woman's shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I truly am. If I could, I'd march right out of here and go help myself. But I've got all these people to look after. If the Queen's troops find them, it'll be a massacre," she said. Korra started to say something, but Alex's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"I understand, Yalishanda. We'll try our luck elsewhere," he said. Both of them then turned to leave the young woman's quarters.

"If I were in your shoes, I'd try the Fire Lady next. Assuming the world really is in trouble, she'd be a fool not to help," Shi said after them.

"Thank you," Korra said before they left. Outside, they paused long enough for Alex to produce a cigarillo and light it. The Avatar gave him a mild look of disgust and disapproval, but he clearly remained unfazed as he continued to smoke it.

"Well, this turned out to be a waste of time," she said as they walked back through the camp.

"I knew the rebels were having problems, but if I had known things were this bad I wouldn't have brought you here," Alex replied.

"Do you think asking the Fire Lady is the answer?" she asked, earning a shrug from him.

"Pretty much the only world leader to ask at this point. We could go further east and try to find Jason, but if he's buried as deep as Shi says, that will take way to long."

"So I guess we're going to the Fire Nation next?"

"If by we you mean yourself and Asami, then yes, you are." This earned him a glare from the Avatar.

"You've come this far only to want to drop out?!"

"Hello? Water and me? Not a good combo," Alex replied.

"It's not like I'm asking you to swim there!"

"No, but at this rate you were thinking of hopping in a speed boat and heading west. I've seen your driving. No. Thank you." Korra started on a retort, but then clenched her teeth.

"We could get a ride on a ship..."

"And with what funding do you plan on doing that? What little Asami's got left is being funneled toward keeping Future Industries alive. And the brothers? Please. Bolin's basicly a hobo and Mako makes so little off his cop salary he couldn't get out of sight if it took a copper piece to go around the world."

"So then what do you suggest I do?" she asked with frustration.

"Take the torpedo boat y'all brought back from down south. Just let me sit this one out, alright?" They were crossing the bridge that led out of the camp now. Korra stopped and looked down at the water gurling over the rocks below. Finally she let out a sigh of defeat.

"Alright fine, I'll take Asami with me. But don't think you're getting out of it when it comes time to head South and help my dad," she said, jabbing her finger at him in the process. Alex just held up his hands in surrender.

"Alright, fair enough." For the first time, they both truly stopped to look at their surroundings. The valley they were in was lush and green with the warmth of the summer sun coming down on it. High above, the mountains were peaked with snow, which shined brightly in the sunlight.

"You know, as far as first dates go, the location on this one wasn't half bad," Korra mused. Alex cocked an eyebrow at her.

"You call trying and failing horribly at diplomatic relations a date?" he asked.

"It is what it is when you're the Avatar," she replied with a shrug. Alex rolled his eyes and went back to looking at the view. Finally he tossed his cigarillo into the creek.

"Fuck it all," he muttered. Korra frowned at him in confusion. She may not have approved of his smoking, but he had been no where close to finishing it.

"What?"

"I'm done pussy footing around," he said before he stepped forward and kissed her. At first, Korra was taken aback by the sudden move. But then she melted into it. Her eyes slid closed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Alex hadn't shaved in a while, and the beginnings of his facial hair tickled her, but in a good way. This was something she had been waiting a long time for, and now it had finally happened. She wasn't about to end it anytime soon.

Finally, the two broke apart, if only to breathe. The Avatar's cheeks were flushed a deep crimson color. She was on cloud nine, and to be honest if he wasn't holding on to her waist she might have lost her balance considering the fact that her knees had gone weak.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked, steadying her.

"Yeah, sorry. I've been waiting for that for a long time," she replied, a large goofy grin on her face.

"I have been kinda holding off on that, haven't I?" he said, his hand rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. Korra surged forward and kissed him again.

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again," she said when she pulled back. With that, she turned and began to walk away. Alex just shook his head and followed after her, unsure of what kind of Pandora's Box he had just opened.

* * *

The ride back to the United Republic was a quiet one. Korra rested her head against Alex's back while her arms were wrapped around his midsection. Alex just remained focused on the road as he drove the bike. His mind, however, was elsewhere. It was often during times like this during his travels that he found his mind wandering.

He thought of his home, his mother, his little sister. Did they truly think he was dead? Or were they Lucy, and clung to some slim hope that he was somewhere alive? Alex had long ago given up the hope of finding a way home. The technology simply didn't exist here, and frankly he lacked the knowledge on the subject in order to make a successful attempt. But now, with this Mercer and Cross, it was possible, just possible, that a way may have finally presented itself.

 _"_ _Get those thoughts out of here, right now."_ Alex frowned as Tessa's voice echoed through his head. She'd been silent for so long he had almost forgotten she was still up there.

 _"_ _Where have you been?"_

 _"_ _Napping. And now that I'm awake I've been reviewing what I missed. And let me tell you right now, this whole thought process you're having? Going to Mercer about getting back home? It's a horrible idea."_

 _"_ _This isn't our world, Tessa. We don't belong here."_

 _"_ _Maybe we don't. But you've made a life for yourself here. This may not have started as your world, but it IS your world now. Look at Asami, at Korra. You go to Mercer you turn your back on both of them, abandoning them to whatever fate he has planned for this place._ Although Alex didn't like to admit it, the electric woman was right. He had been here for too long, seen too much, invested too much into this world. He may have missed his home, but this was his world now, for better or worse.

 _"_ _Does he even have a way to get back?"_

 _"_ _Not on this side of things, no. The portal snapped shut on us, well on ME, when we came through. You could probably turn it on from the other side, but it'd take a gargantuan amount of power to do so. Which is probably why no one has bothered to try and send a search party."_ Alex remained silent as he mulled over what she had said. It was possible that even if they managed to stop Mercer and his plan with the portals, there would always be the possibility of more people coming.

"There has to be someone to keep watch," he said out loud.

"Did you say something?" Korra asked, raising her head.

"Just talking some things over with Tessa," he explained over his shoulder.

"Oh. Okay. How long till we get back to Republic City?"

"Not long now, we're still a few miles outside of the city," he said.

 _"_ _What exactly do you mean when you say 'someone has to keep watch'?"_

 _"_ _After we've dealt with Mercer, what's to stop someone else from coming here and trying to take advantage of this world? If what you say is true, it's only a matter of time until someone figures out how to pull off the jump again. And once that's done, it's the same case of perfecting and stabilizing the process."_

 _"_ _Do you honestly think someone would try to do something like that?"_

 _"_ _Tannan did. Mercer is trying to. Someone has to be able to stop that from happening."_

 _"_ _Isn't that Korra's job?"_

 _"_ _Korra's job is to maintain balance. Someone else is going to have to step up and take this responsibility."_

 _"_ _And what, that person is you?"_

 _"_ _You see anyone else stepping up?"_

 _"_ _No. I see a teenager who's trying to play hero."_

 _"_ _With great power comes great responsibility."_

 _"_ _And now you're quoting Spider Man. Look, Alex, you're a merc at best. Playing vigilante in Republic City is one thing, but this? This is way bigger then you."_

 _"_ _Someone has to do it, Tessa."_ At that, Alex ended the conversation. His mind was made up. Even if an opportunity presented itself, he wouldn't go home. He had people he loved here, and he was willing to do anything to defend them from whatever threats may come from worlds other than this.

An explosion suddenly rocked the road ahead of them, causing Alex to slam on the breaks and bring the bike to a screeching halt. He turned the handlebars, causing the bike to skid slightly to the side. From out of the smoke and dust kicked up by the blast emerged Cross. The dark energy user had his arms out to the side, his hands swirling with darkness.

"Is that..."

"Matt Cross, Mercer's right hand man," Alex said.

"What's he doing here?" Korra asked.

"Probably looking for a rematch."

"You're not getting out of it this time, Chambers!" Cross yelled, pointing at them. Alex lowered the kickstand on the bike and killed the engine.

"You're seriously going to fight him?" Korra asked.

"Might as well. I've seen his powers in play, trust me, running isn't the best idea." The pair dismounted from the bike and faced the lone man standing in the middle of the road.

"So do you want help or do you want to take this one alone?" she asked. A tendril of water suddenly swept down from the trees, smashing into the ground between the two and forcing them to jump clear. Looking up, they spotted the two forms of Desna and Eska descending upon them.

"YOU RUINED MY WEDDING!" Eska screeched.

"You take them, I'll get Cross," Alex said. Korra nodded before sending blasts of air at the twins. Electricity curled around the Charged hands as he faced down the dark energy user. Cross let out a roar before thrusting his hands forward. A ball of dark energy flew forward, and Alex dove to the side in a roll. Behind him, the bike exploded into a ball of fire as he came up in a three point crouch.

Jumping forward, he fired bolts of lightning as he raced to cover the distance between them. Cross raised his arm, creating a shield of dark power. The bolts were deflected to the side, hitting the pine trees along the side of the road. They were smashed into splinters, and ignited in the process. But the two ignored this as they slammed into each other, their forearms locked against one another.

"You've gotten stronger," Cross grunted.

"I was holding back," Alex replied before slamming his head forward, headbutting his enemy. Cross fell back a few steps, but caught himself and surged forward with his hands brimming with energy. Alex raised his own hands and unleashed a torrent of lightning. Now the two were locked in an energy bind, one trying to overcome the other.

"You do not belong in the world that is to come," Cross grunted.

"You have to bring it first," Alex replied. The two were struggling to contain the power that was building between them. A ball of energy was forming, a dark ball bristling with lightning and growing in size.

Nearby, Korra was fending off attacks from both sides by her cousins. Desna sent a blast of water at the Avatar's head, but Korra countered, slapping it away with the back of her hand. The water whipped outward and snapped into the back of Alex's leg. A yell escaped from Alex's lips as his leg locked up in pain.

"Alex!" Korra appeared next to his side, trying to fend off any more attacks.

"Run," he grunted.

"Not without you." The ball of power shifted as Alex's focus wavered. Sensing his chance, Cross surged forward with a yell, pushing all of his power forward. The electric user struggled to maintain it, but was quickly overwhelmed by it. An explosion erupted, engulfing everything in a bright light. When it cleared, the trees around the blast area had been flattened.

Cross stood and looked around at the destruction, but didn't find either Korra or Alex. Instead, all he found was the twins. They were dazed and bruised from the blast, but still very much alive. Anger surged through him and he stalked forward, grabbing them both by their necks.

"You're coming with me."

 _Southern Portal._

"What is the meaning of this?" Unalaq roared as he entered the tent. Both Desna and Eska were suspended in mid air, their forms outlined by dark energy. Cross was standing in front of them with his hand raised, his fingers clenching and unclenching. Each time his fingers contracted, both of the twins let out murmurs of pain.

"These two interfered with a mission to take out an enemy that is very dangerous to our mission," Mercer said, stepping forward with his arms clasped behind his back.

"I ordered them to capture the Avatar. She's the key to opening the other portal," Unalaq said.

"Indeed, she was. But had you listened to me, there is a time and a place for that. This was not that time."

"Are you questioning my judgment?"

"I am. In fact, I'm questioning if you are even competent enough to fulfill your task in this endeavor. Because of your actions, the Avatar was vaporized and now everything is in jeopardy," Mercer said.

"Vaporized? The Avatar is dead?!" Unalaq asked, looking past the masked man to his children.

"It is clear now that you are not worthy of the power you seek to possess."

"The power of Vaatu is to be MINE! That was our agreement!" Rather then answer the Northern Chief, Mercer removed the glove from his left hand and raised it. It was a sickly green color, transparent almost as the bones beneath gave off a faint glow.

"I am altering our agreement." Unalaq's face flushed red, at first with anger. But then, the man doubled over in pain, clutching his stomach. He fell to his knees and vomited the contents of his stomach. Looking up, he locked eyes with the ones that were behind the metal mask. This didn't last as he fell on to his side, moaning in pain as his arms hugged his midsection. Both of the twins watched in horror as the skin on their father's face began to blister and boil. Then, Unalaq let out something between a moan and a gurgle before going rigid, dying in a pool of his own vomit at Mercer's feet.

Turning, the masked man faced the twins with his hand still raised. Although their faces remained stoic, the two had fear in their eyes.

"Rapid radiation poisoning is a horrid, painful way to die. Unless you two wish to share his fate, I would listen very closely if I were you."

"What is it you want from us?" Desna asked.

"You two will return to the North and assume the duties of your father. There, you will await my instructions. Fail me in this task, or interfere again, and I will draw out your deaths."

"And what of this agreement Father spoke of?" Eska asked.

"That does not concern you," he replied before motioning toward Cross, who lowered his hand. The energy around the twins vanished, allowing them to fall to the floor.

"Now go, before I change my mind." Desna and Eska hurried from the tent, leaving the two men alone.

"Do you think they are actually dead?" Cross asked after several moments of silence.

"I highly doubt it. Chambers has a bad habit of escaping explosions with his life. I want the camp security doubled. We'll see them both again."

 **And Cut! Things are starting to come to a head now. So let's discuss the future, shall we? As of this, there are about two chapters left before Rolling Thunder is concluded. Why is it half as long as Chain Lightning was? Simple, Spirits was my least favorite Book, and I've grown tired of being bogged down in it. From here, Alex's story will move on into the events of Books Three and Four, with even a Halloween special set up to be released sometime in October. So remember, dear readers; drop a review, leave a PM, ask a question or ten, and I'll see you all next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter. There's not much if any action in this chapter, but it's a major set up for next chapter. So anyway, on with the show:**

Alex groaned as he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. The air smelled of ozone, and he tasted copper. He shook his head, trying to get his vision to focus. The first thing he saw as his vision returned was his hat, laying on the ground directly in front of his face. Second thing he noticed was that he was on concrete, not dirt.

"Korra?" he asked, grabbing his hat as he sat up on his knees. A trash can fell over, revealing the Avatar herself. Her hair was frazzled, and blood was dripping from her nose as she struggled to maintain her balance.

"What happened?" she asked, her words slurred. Alex managed to catch her shoulders as she started to fall, holding her upright.

"Cross' teleportation must have been involved in the blast somehow," he said.

"Where are we?" she asked. Alex looked around them as he slung her arm over his shoulder, taking her weight in order to help her stand. They were in an alleyway, surrounded on both sides by brick walls. He breathed a sigh of relief when a Republic City police airship passed overhead.

"Looks like we're back in Republic City," he said. The Avatar looked at him, her blue eyes filled with confusion and concern.

"Who are you?" This made Alex pause and look down at her. If she was joking, there was no sigh of it anywhere on her face.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"I don't know who you are, or who I am, or what's even going on. Please, tell me," she replied, fear growing in her voice. Alex stopped and gently cupped her chin, turning her head one way and then the other. On the side of her head, initially hidden by her hair, was a rather nasty bruise that was blue, almost green in color.

 _"_ _Tessa, you wouldn't happen to know any first aid would you?"_

 _"_ _Some, why what's...oh...that's not good."_

 _"_ _Yeah, no shit."_

"That ain't good," he said out loud, "you took a pretty bad ding to the head."

"That explains the headache," Korra muttered, putting a hand to her forehead.

"Come on, let's get you back to Air Temple Island," he said.

"Can you tell me my name, at least?" Korra asked as they started to hobble forward.

"Your name is Korra, and you are the Avatar," Alex answered.

"Oh. What's the Avatar?" she asked.

 _"_ _Tessa, we have a problem."_

 _"_ _Yeah, tell me something I don't know, spotlight."_

* * *

"Well, isn't this just a wonderful turn of events," Lucy said as she folded her arms across her chest. Her, Alex, Asami, Mako, Bolin, and Korra were all in Korra's room on the Island. Korra herself was laying down on the bed, while Asami gently tried to clean some of her scrapes and bruises with a washcloth.

"What happened?" Mako asked.

"We were ambushed by Cross and Bolin's psycho ex on our way back to the city. Korra took a hit to the head, and now doesn't know who anyone is, including herself," Alex explained.

"Nothing at all?" Asami asked with concern before turning to the Avatar herself, "Korra, do you know who I am?"

"No, I don't. I don't remember. Sorry," Korra replied sheepishly.

"We gotta do something, we can't just wait around for her head to get better," Bolin said.

"Rocks for brains is right. Mercer's plan is still in full motion. We're on the clock here," Lucy added.

"Well what can we do? The only person here who knows any form of healing is the exact person that needs treatment," Mako said.

"That may not entirely be the case," Lucy said.

"What do you mean?" Asami asked.

"The brain works by firing off electric signals. Everything from basic functions to memory is all basicly one electric charge. Luckily for us, we got someone here who can control and manipulate electricity," Lucy explained, focusing her attention on her brother. Everyone else looked at Alex as well, who quickly raised his hands and took a few steps backwards.

"Uh uh, don't even think about it," he said.

"Alex if anyone can get Korra's memories back, it's you," Lucy said.

"You have your healing factor thingy, can't you use that to help Korra?" Bolin asked.

"I've never tried to use it on someone else," Alex defended.

"But you're still the only one here who can manipulate electricity to that degree," Asami said.

"You all realize that you're basicly asking me to preform brain surgery right? One wrong move, one wrong current to the wrong area and Korra becomes a vegetable or worse."

"That doesn't change things. We need her, and you're the only one who can help her. Besides, you've got Tessa to help you," Lucy said. Mako and Bolin looked at each other in confusion.

"Who's Tessa?" Mako asked. Alex said and raised his hand as if he was offering it to the brothers. Instantly a small version of Tessa appeared with her hands on her hips.

"That would be me." Bolin yelped and scrambled backwards.

"Gah! Tiny ghost!" This earned a face palm from the electric woman.

"I'm not a ghost. I'm not even dead."

"Technically you aren't alive either," Lucy said.

"Shut it, Reaper cannon!" Tessa snapped. Mako took a few steps closer and looked the electric woman over without actually touching her.

"What are you?" he asked.

"I'm a human conscience preserved in an electric form and stabilized with Rift Energy. Basicly I'm what all of you would look like if we extracted you from your brains and found a way to keep you from dissipating," she explained. Korra groaned and placed her hands on her head.

"Oh, things are getting really weird."

"Trust me, honey. This is only the tip of the iceberg," Asami said before turning her attention to Tessa, "is it true? Can you help Alex and Korra?"

"I owe Korra my life. Ordinarily I'd say yes without a second thought. But in this case Alex is right. We can't just dive in and hope for the best," she said.

"Is there something you can do?" Korra asked. Alex took a few steps closer to the bed and lowered his hand. Tessa stepped off his palm and walked to the Avatar's head. Korra turned her head so that she was looking at the small electric woman. Folding her arms, Tessa cupped her chin in thought as she stared into the cyan blue eye looking back at her.

"Hold still, this will tickle," she finally said before reaching her hand out and placing it on Korra's forehead. Instantly the young woman's face scrunched up in pain, but Tessa was quick, removing her hand once she had gotten what she needed.

"Well?" Mako asked.

"Her mind is clouded with a lot of interference," Tessa reported.

"Can you guys clear it out?" Bolin asked. Tessa perked her lips and shook her head.

"It's not that simple. When I say her mind is clouded, I mean that in a literal sense. There's a foreign energy signature in there, something that doesn't belong and didn't originate there." Alex frowned and held his hand out again.

"Show me." Tessa touched her hand to his and vanished. Alex closed his eyes as he studied what Tessa had seen, a frown growing on his face with each passing second. Finally, his eyes shot open and he hurried to Korra's side.

"We're going in," he declared. Everyone else in the room was startled by the sudden reverse in behavior.

"Wait, what? What changed? What happened to being careful?" Asami asked.

"None of that matters now. The energy signature that Tessa detected, I recognize it. It belongs to Cross."

"Cross, as in Matt Cross?" Lucy asked.

"You know another?"

"Well what's it doing?"

"At the moment it's just sitting there dormant. But the longer it sits there, the more it'll suppress Korra's conscience. Right now it's just memories, but if it keeps going she'll be nothing more then a drooling meatbag with eyes. And that's not counting the amount of damage Cross can do if he manipulates it," Alex explained.

"So what's the plan?" Asami asked.

"Tessa and I can purge the dark energy, but it'll take time. In the meantime we need more information. We need to know what this Vaatu thing is and how it's related to Project First Son," Alex said.

"So we're on library duty," Mako said.

"Bingo. Well most of you are. Bolin, you need to get on the radio and try to raise Tenzin. We'll need all the spiritual know how we can get." The Earthbender gave a quick military style salute.

"Yes, sir!" he said before running from the room.

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Lucy asked.

"You worked with Mercer, sis. You tell me. The library here on the Island is pretty big. Look for anything even remotely connected to whatever that masked nut job is up to." Lucy sighed.

"Alright. Come on, flamer. We got a library date," she said before leading Mako out of the room. That left only Asami, Korra, and Alex in the room.

"Alex are you sure about this?" Asami asked. Alex looked down at Korra and gently took her hand in his.

"No. But it's not like we have much choice at this point."

* * *

Hours passed, and only silence filled the room. Alex sat along the side of the bed, both his and Korra's eyes were closed. He had one pressed to Korra's forehead, while the other was firmly clamped down on her hand. Asami went back and forth between the two, gently pressing her hand against their foreheads when a sweat started to break out in order to cool them down.

What the heiress couldn't see was what was occurring between her two lovers. Although based on their facial expressions, it was intense. She doubted that the two could even hear her if she spoke, so she just remained quiet, keeping them cool and waiting for them to resurface.

 _Korra didn't know where she was, only that she was standing in some dark void. Her own body gave off a soft purple glow, allowing her to look around in the gloom._

 _"_ _Where am I?" she asked._

 _"_ _Your sub-conscience," Tessa's disembodied voice answered._

 _"_ _Tessa? Where are you? Why can't I see you?"_

 _"_ _I'm here. I don't really have a form in my natural state, that's why you can't see me."_

 _"_ _What about Alex?"_

 _"_ _He's coming. Here's what we're gonna do; Cross' energy has infested your mind and we're gonna purge it. But your mind is gonna try and fight back and defend itself, so we're gonna have to keep it distracted."_

 _"_ _What does that mean?"_

 _"_ _You and Alex are gonna go through a series of dreams, while I get the dark energy out of here. Hopefully we'll be done before your mind realizes what's happening and fights back."_

 _"_ _Why does Alex need to be here? Why can't you just do it yourself?" Korra asked._

 _"_ _Because the last time you and I tried a solo ride together, you went on a rampage. Alex is absorbing any potential damage that might be done to you from me, and keeping you down," Tessa explained._

 _"_ _So what happens now?"_

 _"_ _Now, you dream." From out of the darkness, a single wooden door took shape. Korra took a few hesitant steps forward and opened it. Beyond the door, she realized that she was standing in her parents' living room. She saw younger versions of her father and mother sitting on the furniture. Her mother was sewing, while her father sharpened a hunting spear._

 _"_ _Mommy, daddy! I can earthbend, I can earthbend!" a four year old version of herself yelled as she ran into the room. Korra instantly recognized the memory. This was the day she had discovered she was the Avatar._

 _"_ _Korra, you're already a waterbender. You can't be an earthbender as well," Senna said patiently._

 _"_ _But I can, look!" the small, barefoot girl declared as she took a stance and began to concentrate on a stone on the floor._

 _"_ _Why am I not surprised," came a new voice. Korra looked up and realized that Alex was standing on the other side of the room with his arms folded. He looked like he did the first time they'd met. A black hoodie, jeans, and his dirty blonde hair having grown out a little. What more, the scar that was on his cheek was missing._

 _"_ _What are you..."_

 _"_ _Relax, we can only observe, not interact," he said, waving his hand through a chair in order to prove his point._

 _"_ _Korra, honey, we've already seen you waterbend, it's not possible for..." Tonraq started. He was instantly silenced when the stone suddenly flew from the floor and smashed into a decorative shield hanging on the wall. It crashed to the floor, leaving both parents' jaws hanging open._

 _"_ _See! I told you! I told you!" little Korra yelled in triumph. Korra smiled at sight of the memory. Alex held out his hand to her._

 _"_ _Come on, we got other things to see," he said. Korra reached out and took it, and the room around them faded back to darkness. After a moment, another door came into existance, and they both walked toward it._

 _"_ _Why is it I can remember stuff here, but I couldn't when I was awake?" Korra asked. Alex shrugged._

 _"_ _I've got a few running theories, but nothing solid," he answered as they stepped through the door. Unlike the first, this one was a messy bedroom. Both Korra and Alex frowned at the sight._

 _"_ _Uh, this isn't my bedroom. Or any other room I've been in," Korra said._

 _"_ _It's my room, the one I had at my mom's house," Alex replied. Sure enough, a younger Alex was sitting on the bed, strumming the strings of a guitar._

 _"_ _I thought we were looking at my memories," Korra said in confusion._

 _"_ _We're sharing a link. Something tells me we're gonna see both of our memories." The bedroom door opened, and in stepped a petite woman with long dark hair. Her face had worry lines on it and her cheeks were red and wet with tears. At the sight of the woman, Alex's face instantly fell._

 _"_ _Oh. It's that day."_

 _"_ _Alex, honey, can you come down to the living room please?" the woman, whom Korra assumed to be Alex's mother asked._

 _"_ _Sure, mom," younger Alex replied as he sat the guitar aside. He had a look of worry on his face as he followed his mother out of the room. When they were gone, Korra turned to Alex._

 _"_ _What happened?"_

 _"_ _This was the day we found out that my Dad had been killed. Mom called us all into the living room and broke the news," Alex explained, "all in all it was a pretty shitty day." Once again, the room faded to darkness. Again, another door formed, and together they walked through it. On the other side, they found themselves in a simple bedroom. This memory was a fairly recent one, as Korra was only about a year younger then what she was now._

 _There were a few White Lotus guards surrounding her bed, struggling to hold a small figure down while Korra herself looked on with both concern and excitement. Alex watched the scene unfold with curiosity. It appeared that Korra had been eating a meal when whatever was going on had interrupted her, given the fact that there was a plate filled with half eaten food sitting on the table._

 _Suddenly the fork sailed across the room and into the cluster at the bed. One of the White Lotus fell away from group screaming and holding his hand, the folk sticking out of it. Whoever the sentries were wrestling, they had just tried to stab their way out with a fork._

 _"_ _What's going on?" he asked. Korra looked down at the White Lotus sentry with the fork sticking out of his hand and smiled._

 _"_ _This was the day I met Kelly," she said. In the dog pile, said bispeckled teen came out of the fray, poncing on one of the guards with a scream and forcing him backwards._

 _"_ _I'll send your teeth down your throat!" she screeched as she drove her fist into the poor man's nose again and again. One of the sentries managed to draw a club and hit the rampaging teen over the head, knocking her out cold._

 _"_ _And thus, a friendship was born," Alex said with sarcasm as the room once again faded to darkness. By now, the process was familiar to them. They waited for the next door to form before walking through it._

 _"_ _How many more times do we have to do this?" Korra asked._

 _"_ _I don't know. Hopefully Tessa is almost done and this will be our last one," Alex replied. This time they were in an extremely fine suite in a hotel. It appeared to be in Republic City, based upon the furniture and style of the room._

 _"_ _Where are we now?" Korra asked._

 _"_ _Looks like the Four Seasons Hotel," Alex replied. Korra continued to frown as she looked around the room._

 _"_ _I haven't really been here before. This must be your memory," she said. Alex racked his brain, trying to remember what this memory might be. There were only two major memories that stood out involving this location. One of them had been in the main ballroom on the ground floor, when he had discovered his weakness to water after being shoved into a fountain._

 _Seeing as they were in a suite, and not a ballroom, Alex quickly got a good idea what event this memory was about. Having noticed that there was no one present in the room, Korra started to look around. When she reached a door that could only lead off into a bedroom, she started to turn the knob and head inside. Too late did Alex see this._

 _"_ _Korra, wait, NO!" Korra opened the door and froze at what she saw on the other side. Alex raced to her side and struggled to reach past her in order to close the door. Inside the room, sprawled out on the bed as naked as the day she was born was Asami. Her head was thrown back and her hands gripped the sheets as she moaned in escticy. Alex was with her, in a similar state of dress with his face buried in her crotch._

 _The door slamming in her face was enough to cause Korra to blink out of her almost hypnotized state. Now that she was no longer stupefied by the sight before her, her cheeks instantly flushed the color of a tomato._

 _"_ _Sorry you had to see that," Alex said sheepishly, his cheeks being the same color as hers, if not even more red._

 _"_ _What...um...what?" she asked._

 _"_ _The night you outed Hiroshi as an Equalist. This was the first time Asami and I...you know...," Alex explained._

 _"_ _Oh," Korra said. She reached out and began to open the door again._

 _"_ _What are you doing to her?" Alex grabbed the door and slammed it closed._

 _"_ _SERIOUSLY?!"_

 _"_ _What, you've got me curious now."_

 _"_ _I seriously doubt this is the time for this kind of conversation!"_

 _"_ _I'm just saying, we're right here, we're both in a relationship with Asami, and it's not like we're not gonna end up in a situation like this at some point," she pointed out. Alex just shook his head in disbelief._

 _"_ _And here I thought you were the innocent virgin. Turns out you're such a perverted fruit loop you could give Lucy a run for her money."_

 _"_ _You know what they say about the privacy of one's own mind," Korra replied. Alex just continued to shake his head._

 _"_ _I need a drink."_

Asami gently pressed her palm against Alex's forehead, trying to cool him down. Slowly, the Charged shifted and then opened his eyes. He looked tired, like he hadn't slept in a long time, which was probably the case.

"Did it work?" Asami asked.

"I think so. Korra should be waking up any moment now," he replied.

"You look beat."

"I'm not surprised, considering what I just pulled off." This earned a smile from the heiress.

"So how was it, tumbling around in the Avatar's head?" she asked.

"We're gonna have our hands full with this one," he warned.

"Oh, I'm not surprised. She's got fire and spirit. And that's just barely scratching the surface."

"And a curiosity that could get a heard of cats killed," he added. Asami gave him a curious look.

"You'll have to tell me about that," she said.

"Oh I'm sure she'll give you a run for your money." At that moment, the door opened and Mako peaked his head in.

"Did it work?" he asked.

"We think so. Korra's waking up now," Asami replied. True to her words, Korra's eyes slowly opened. She just lay there for several moments, staring up at the ceiling above her.

"I feel like I got hit by a truck."

"You and me both," Alex said with a tired smile.

"Do you remember anything?" Asami asked. Korra nodded.

"Yeah. A lot of it is still a little fuzzy, but it's all coming back now," she confirmed.

"Good, cause you all are gonna need a clear head for what we found," Lucy said as she burst into the room, carrying several ancient looking scrolls and manuscripts. She sprawled them out on the bed as Korra sat up. The trio gave them several different looks, chief amongst them confusion.

"What's all this?" Asami asked.

"Ancient history. Turns out this Vaatu thing that file referred to is a Spirit. Or, to be more specific, the 'embodiment of darkness and chaos'," Mako replied, reading the last part from a scroll. Asami took the scroll Mako was holding and quickly scanned through what was written on the parchment.

"'Vaatu, the embodiment of darkness and chaos, dueled Raava, the embodiment of light and order during an event known as Harmonic Convergence. The winner of the duel decided the fate of both the Physical and Spirit realms for the next ten thousand years until the next Harmonic Convergence, when they would duel again.'" she read. At the mention of Raava, Korra took a small shuttering breath as if she had just been blasted by a wave of cold. This didn't escape Alex's notice.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, just...something about that name seems familiar."

"Wait, wait, wait, you said that this all happened in the past tense, as if it doesn't happen anymore. What changed? What happened to these two?" Lucy asked. Asami went back to looking through the scroll.

"'This cycle continued until Raava assumed the form of a mortal and imprisoned Vaatu in the Tree of Time using the power of the elements.'"

"This sounds like a whole lot of ancient myths, what does it have to with the Project?" Alex asked.

"'Harmonic Convergence is an event in which the world is bathed in energy from the Spirit World, but only so long as the portals located at the North and South Pole are open'," Lucy answered, reading from a book before snapping it closed, "Simply put, Mercer gets to the Convergence to cover the whole planet in Rift Energy."

"She's right, it's all here: Vaatu, the portals, Harmonic Convergence, everything," Asami said as she looked through the file.

"That's our battle plan then. We need to get that Portal closed before the Convergence starts. Otherwise a whole lot of people are going to get an upgrade they never wanted," Alex said.

"So what do we do?" Asami asked.

"You, Mako, Bolin and I will take the torpedo boat and go back down South to close the portal. Alex and Lucy will stay here and protect the homefront," Korra said.

"Why should we stay behind?" Lucy asked, folding her arms.

"Once they realize what's going on, Cross will lash out here to try and draw us away from the Portal. You and I are the strongest in the group, we stand a much better chance in fending him off," Alex said.

"And what if this Vaatu gets free, huh? The embodiment of darkness and chaos, that's nothing like anything any of us has ever faced," Lucy pressed.

"We have the Avatar. That's got to count for something," Mako said.

 _Tree of Time._

 _ **"**_ _ **It is almost time. Harmonic Convergence draws closer, I can feel it."**_ The great red, orange, and black spirit that possessed the hollow center of the gnarled tree had a voice that was deep, ancient, and yet timeless. Mercer stood before it on a large bolder with his head bowed out of respect.

"The Avatar is dead. We cannot open the other portal in time," he reported.

 _ **"**_ _ **No. Raava yet lives. I feel her. She draws closer and closer with each passing hour. Are you prepared for what must be done?"**_

"Everything is in place. We are ready."

 _ **"**_ _ **Excellent. Soon Raava shall fall, and I shall rise, and when I do, Darkness shall reign for Ten Thousand Years!"**_

 **And cut. Like I said, not much action, but some back information and a lot of set up. Next chapter is not only the finale for Rolling Thunder, but also the final dust up between Cross and Alex, as well as their biggest one to date. Honestly I was expecting this all to be a little longer, but as I've stated in the past, Spirits was my least favorite Book in LOK, and I've grown tired of being bogged down in it. So anyway, remember leave a review, drop a PM, let me know what you liked or didn't like, and I'll see you all next time.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys, I'm here with the finale of Rolling Thunder. I hope you came for some action, case this is jam packed with it. Thank you all for your support, now let's get the show on the road:**

Alex stood on the dock of Air Temple Island with a lit cigarillo, watching as the torpedo boat faded into the horizon. It was morning, and he had just seen the vast majority of Team Avatar off for their journey back to the Southern Water Tribe. He didn't like watching them go. The group of friends had only just gotten back together and now they were splitting up again.

Of course, it went without saying that he would miss Korra and Asami a little more then Mako and Bolin. He'd given Korra a very long and private kiss goodbye, and he'd spent the entire night with Asami. Needless to say, Tessa had been silent the entire time since. Alex wasn't sure where the tag along had gone, but he was going to enjoy the silence while it lasted.

"Smoking, really little bro?" Lucy asked as she appeared by his side.

"It calms my nerves."

"Uh huh, sure. I thought it was customary to have a smoke after doing the deed," she said.

"You would know," came the reply.

"So how was your night with the beautiful heiress?"

"I don't broadcast my business," Alex said. Lucy smirked at him.

"Oh I don't need you to tell me the details. I can figure enough out on my own," she said. Alex remained silent, taking another drag and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"I saw the look on her face this morning. That, and the way you've been walking...she nearly broke you in half didn't she?" An image flashed through Alex's mind. The picture of Asami's naked form, perched on top of him and writhing in ecstasy. She had gone over six months without anything more then a kiss, and last night she had cashed all that in and them some. Lucy was right. Asami had nearly broken both him and the bed in half.

"Ha, called it," Lucy said when some color crept into Alex's cheeks. He was starting to get annoyed by his sister's prying.

"Seriously? You need to find a better hobby."

"So how long until you give it to Korra like you've been giving it to Asami?"

"Lucy, for now I'd just settle for being able to see them both again," Alex answered as he tossed his cigarillo into the harbor before he turned and headed back up to the main part of the Temple. Lucy watched him go before looking back out to sea. She may have given Alex a hard time, but it was her way of making sure he stayed on top of his game and assuring him that things would be alright.

"You will, little bro. You will," she said to herself.

* * *

The darkness swirled around him like a black fog. It pulsed with each breath he took, condensing in as he inhaled, and expanding outward as he exhaled. Matt Cross had never attempted meditation before. He was only doing it now in order to prepare himself for the role he was set to play. Soon he would be the most powerful being in existence, a god incarnate, and there would be nothing to stop him from achieving his goals.

Mercer had a plan for the world, to reshape it and remold it. 'A world where everyone could achieve extraordinary things' he'd said when he had pitched his plan to him. The masked man honestly, truly believed that in the world he was trying to bring about, the possibilites were endless.

But Cross, he'd never seen it. He saw only a dog eat dog world. A world where the ones with more power would rise to the top, while those with less power fell to the bottom, as was the order of things in nature. In truth, Matthew viewed Mercer as being too much of a dreamer, a man who was trying to be the hero of his own tail. This was something he despised.

 _"_ _Take him out."_ There it was again. The small, nagging voice in the back of his head he had heard since he was a young man. Adam, he'd named the voice. It wasn't real, he knew it wasn't real, and yet here it was once again, whispering to him.

"Not yet," he replied out loud. It was foolish to respond to a voice in his head, yet Cross did so anyway. If he didn't address it, it would only grow louder in it's demands.

 _"_ _He's a fool. It's you who should be leading this project."_

"The Project is his design. I must follow it to the letter if I am to reach his goals."

 _"_ _Bull! Take him down now, when he doesn't expect it!"_

"I do not stand a chance against his powers. Not as I am now. I must wait until I have the power to do so." Despite the possibility of him betraying Mercer growing, Cross had other things to deal with once he acquired the power he had been promised. Namely in the form of the Chambers siblings.

When he had first joined the Watchers, seeking some sort of meaning in his life following the death of his girlfriend in a mugging, it was Mercer who had taken him under his wing. But not even the charismatic man had been able to shield him from the overly bold and somewhat cruel humor that had come from new member Lucy Chambers. Over time, she had caused him more and more annoyance. And as this continued, Adam had grown louder and louder when it came to her. Each time, the chant grew harder and harder to ignore. Dispose of her, make her an example, do away with her.

Then, Cross had encountered Lucy's brother, and all of that anger and rage shifted focus.

Alex Chambers was like a walking example of everything Cross had come to despise. The world was a cold, cruel place that claimed everyone in the end. Anyone who tried to defy this was a fool who deserved everything they got when the world backhanded them into place.

He had read Chambers' police file when they had first learned of the fact that he was alive. It was mainly a list of things they had tried to connect Alex to, but had never managed to find enough evidence to do so. The fact that Chief Beifong had declared the man they were trying to prove was Alex dead six months ago hadn't helped matters.

Regardless if the police could prove it was him or not, Cross had gotten enough of a glimpse to know that he hated this person with a passion. He were acting like some super powered goodie two shoes out of a comic book. It was bullshit, all of it. Matthew had seen war, seen humanity at it's worst. And from that he had learned something; heroes get chewed up and spat out like a wad of gum.

To him, Alex was a showoff, someone who needed to be reminded of their place in the order of life. If no one else was willing or able to, then Cross would gladly step forward and do so himself.

"Matthew. It is time," came Mercer's voice. Cross opened his eyes and allowed the darkness to dissipate. Standing, he raised the hood on his coat.

"Then let us begin."

* * *

Korra braced herself in the supports of the wing of the biplane. They had stolen the plane from an abandoned military instillation not far from the Southern Port, a place that had been cleared out by the Southern Rebels not long before.

The plan the team had come up with was...suicidal at best. They would pass over the camp around the portal, and while Asami, Mako and Bolin created a diversion, Korra would drop in and close the portal. They hadn't counted on the large amount of dark Spirits that were swirling around the pillar of light.

"That's a lot of Spirits," Asami said from her place in the pilot's seat.

"They're drawn to the energy the Portal is giving off. They should dissipate when it's closed," Korra said.

"Are you sure about that?" Mako asked.

"No. But that's a chance we have to take. The Portal can't be open when the Convergence starts."

"That settles it then. Everyone ready?" Asami asked.

"I'm an earthbender, I should be on the ground," Bolin whined from his place on the wing opposite of Korra.

"Bro, just get ready," Mako said.

"Right, right. Ready. Well, ready as I'll ever be."

"Alright then, let's roll," Korra said before lowering a set of goggles over her eyes and detaching the safety wire from her waist. The Avatar took a single step backwards off the plane's wing and allowed herself to free fall toward the ground. Her stomach churned with butterflies, and the wind deafened her as she raced toward the snow covered tundra.

At the last second, she let out a powerful blast of air from both her hands and feet. This was enough to cushion her fall and allow her to land in a roll. Coming up into a crouch, Korra quickly looked around to see if she had been spotted. Realizing that she was undetected, the Avatar began a mad dash toward the pillar of light that rose up before her.

Strangely, the vast majority of the encampment around the Portal was empty. More then likely the Northern troops had been drawn out to fight the Rebels. That, or the biplane distraction was doing it's job really well. Even now, Korra could hear the planes' engines buzzing over the sound of explosions as the brothers threw explosives from the wings. Ignoring this, she continued forward, determined to reach the Portal. Finally, she found herself at the base of the pillar.

"HOLD, AVATAR!" Korra froze at the force of the voice. Turning toward the noise, she found herself confronted by three people. It was Mercer and Cross, with Mercer holding her mother, Senna, by the back of her neck.

"Mom?"

"Korra, no matter what happens, don't do what they say!" Senna yelled. The woman flinched in pain as Mercer tightened his grip.

"If you want your mother to survive this day, you will do exactly what I tell you," he countered.

"What do you want?" Korra asked, getting straight to the point despite assuming a bending position out of habit.

"Let's take a walk, shall we?" Mercer said, forcing Senna forward toward the Portal. Korra reluctantly followed, walking into the Spirit World after them. The area they found themselves in was a desolate plain with patches of water here and there. In the center of it all was a massive gnarled tree standing atop a pile of boulders. Contained within a hollow in the center of the tree was a large orange and black spirit that resembled a kite.

"There you are, Raava," it said, it's voice containing a haunting echo. Korra shuttered, not at the voice, but at some primal recognition that came from deep within her.

"The other Portal, open it," Mercer said.

"You're insane if you think I'm going to let that thing out," Korra said, pointing toward the Dark Spirit.

"You will do as you are told, or you will suffer the consequences," Mercer said, forcing Senna to her knees.

"Korra, don't..." she started, but was silenced by another grasp from the man holding her.

"Radiation poisoning is a horrible way to die. Her skin will turn red and blister, her ability to keep food down will disappear along with the ability to control her bowls, and finally it will end with her deformed and wailing in pain because, frankly, she's being cooked from the inside," Mercer said, removing a glove and raising a glowing green hand.

"Wait, wait," Korra said, holding up her hands in surrender, "I'll do it."

"Wise choice." Korra crossed the barren plain to the glowing orb in the ground on the far side of the tree. Both Mercer and Cross followed close behind with Senna, watching closely to ensure that she didn't try anything. Reaching the orb, Korra closed her eyes and placed her hand on the light. After a moment, she opened her eyes, revealing the glowing white of the Avatar State.

The Portal opened with a burst of energy, sending another pillar of light racing skyward. Both Mercer and Cross stepped back and looked up in awe, admiring the twin pillars that now dominated the landscape. Neither one of them saw the twin blasts of air Korra sent at them when she suddenly turned.

The first blast struck Cross dead center in the chest at full force, sending him flying and landing several yards away while the second managed to separate her mother and Mercer from each other. Korra didn't give him a chance to recover as she followed this up with another air blast, sending him flying farther then Cross had gone.

"Mom, run!" she ordered. Senna didn't need to be told twice, picking herself up and sprinting back in the direction of the Southern Portal. Turning on her heal, Korra went back into the Avatar State and placed her hands against the pillar of light. Time was running out, she could feel it deep within the core of her being. But the pillar was shrinking. There was hope, she could do this, just a little more...

"You're too late, Raava. You feel it coming, don't you?" Vaatu asked.

The Portal suddenly flared with an explosion of energy, sending Korra flying backwards. Both of the pillars arched toward each other and collided high above the Tree. Lighting flashed off of the now joined Portals, showing just how much energy was traveling through them. In the tree, the barrier containing the Dark Spirit pulsed and then gave out, freeing the being of darkness.

Vaatu cackled as he floated upward, turning his form and relishing the fact that after so long of being trapped, he was finally free. Korra pulled herself to her feet, momentarily horrified at the sight, but quickly shifting back into fighting mode. She was the Avatar, and she was not about to let this thing go free and terrorize the world, not without giving it the fight of its life.

"You could not stop this from happening, Raava. Now I will usher in a new era, an era of darkness everlasting!" the Spirit declared.

"Not if I have anything to say about it! You're going right back in that tree!" Korra yelled before her eyes glowed white. As she started to build up power for an attack, her body was suddenly surrounded by dark energy. She didn't have time to react as Cross levitated her, and then threw her like a rag doll through the Portal behind her.

"Now, quickly! Form the bond!" Mercer yelled. Vaatu instantly dove toward Cross, who stood with his arms outstretched as if offering a hug. As the Spirit of Darkness entered him, Cross visibly shuttered, but otherwise remained upright and defiant. With a puff of smoke, he appeared next to the Portal and placed his hand on the beam of light. Energy flowed into him, and his form was covered with an orange glow. As he opened his eyes, Mercer saw that they now glowed pure orange, the color of flames.

"Behold, for a new era comes forth," he said, his voice now a mixture of Cross' and Vaatu's. A fist suddenly collided with Cross' jaw, coupled with a blast of fire, sending the newly formed Dark Avatar flying backward. Korra sprung out of the Portal, her eyes aglow and a yell of rage billowing from her lips as she unleashed a torrent of the different elements on her enemy.

Cross raised his arms and formed a shield of dark energy around his body. His managed to withstand the attacks, but he was still forced to his knees from their ferocity. Counter attacking, he sent out a few balls of energy, which Korra dodged while still refusing to let up on her attacks. The two managed to kick up quite the dust cloud as they duked it out, each one trying to crack the others' defenses.

Finally, Korra saw a way to get past Cross' shield. She reached out and bent the ground beneath his feet, causing it to buckle and rise upward violently. Rather then be taken by surprise, Cross spring-boarded off the stones and closed the distance between the two. He managed to get his hand on Korra's face, forcing her to her knees in the process.

Before she could react, Cross' hand glowed orange and he drew it away from her. She choked and gasped for air as something was drawn up from inside her, forcing its way up her throat and out of her mouth. A form emerged and was ripped free from her. It was another Spirit, the same shape as Vaatu, only white and blue in color. This was Raava, the Spirit of Light, and Vaatu's opposite.

Cross twisted his hands, and Korra once again found herself surrounded by dark energy before being thrown like a rag doll again. She landed in an ungraceful heap, weak and unable to get back up. With her out of the way, Cross focused his attention on Raava herself. He encased the Spirit in a ball of dark energy and began to crush it.

Korra twisted in agony as she felt the Light Spirit being destroyed. Each time the ball compressed, she felt a stab of pain go through her very being. Finally, Cross twisted his hands and then threw them out to either side. The ball that surrounded Raava compressed a little more before splitting in half and flying off in opposite directions. As a result, the Spirit inside was sliced in half and collapsed into a shower of sparks. Korra cried out as the last stab of pain struck, and she collapsed, unable to take anymore.

"It is done," Mercer said as he stepped forward and looked down at Korra's fallen form, "The Avatar Spirit is destroyed, and the Avatar is no more."

"No. There is still one that stands in our way," Cross said, his voice echoing with Vaatu's. Turning, the Dark Avatar placed his hand on the glowing pillar of light and vanished into it. Mercer now embraced the silence. It was done. His plan was complete. A new age, a new era had come, and he was it's herald.

A groan from behind him caused him to turn in surprise. Korra wasn't dead like he had thought. She was currently pushing herself to her hands and knees, trying to get back to her feet. Mercer had to admit that he was impressed. He figured that the shock of the Avatar Spirit being ripped from her and then being destroyed would have done her in, or at least kept her out of the fight from now on.

"It is over," he said. Still Korra got to her feet, a look of defiance in her eyes.

"You talk to much," she grunted as she cracked her neck.

"The Avatar Spirit has been destroyed, and a new era has begun! It's over, you failed! And now your boyfriend is gonna pay the price for it!" Mercer yelled.

"This is far from over," Korra replied before blasting him with a combination of air and fire, sending Mercer flying and no doubt breaking some bones in the process.

* * *

Alex stood in the center of the yin and yang symbol on Air Temple Island, facing toward the city skyline. It had been daytime, until just a short while ago when a wave of purple energy had come from the North. Now, the sun had dimmed to the point that stars could be seen, and the Aurora danced in the sky overhead.

He knew without a doubt that Korra and the others had failed in their objective of closing the Portal and stopping Harmonic Convergence. Now that the planet was bathed in Rift Energy, Charged were being formed all over the world. There was nothing he could do about that now. Now his focus had shifted. If an attack came to the city, he had to be ready.

"Ohh, they're beautiful," Jinora said. They had finally gotten in contact with Tenzin, and his family had returned here to the Island while he and his siblings raced South to help Korra. Pema and the children were currently in the courtyard as well, watching this once in a lifetime event unfold.

Alex looked down at his hand. A faint blue glow was coming from within him. All of that energy in the air was flowing through him, making him feel alive and at his most powerful. He took a few breaths and felt the electricity inside him respond. Using the energy in the air, he looked within his mind's eye to see how far he could see. However, he felt something racing toward the city. Something dark, and incredibly powerful.

 _"_ _Tessa?"_

 _"_ _I'm here."_

 _"_ _Can you feel that too?"_

 _"_ _Yeah. Something wicked comes this way. And fast."_ Alex watched as a pulse of light appeared over the mountains. It arched through the sky before slamming down Aang Memorial Island like a comet. The force of the impact cratered a good chunk of the island, and sent the giant metal statue of the past Avatar toppling into the harbor.

 _"_ _That would be our cue."_

 _"_ _Tessa, this isn't going to be easy. If at all possible, I'd like you to sit this one out."_

 _"_ _Not a snowball's chance in Hell, light bulb."_

"Pema. Kids inside, now," Alex said over his shoulder. The woman nodded and hurried to rush her children inside while Alex started toward the dock. He didn't like the idea of going near water. But he needed to get to the island and confront whatever had landed there.

The boat ride was short, even if the guy running it was absolutely frightened out of his mind. Alex let him go back to Air Temple Island, or wherever else he wanted to go once he reached the shoreline. He didn't care, his focus was on what lay ahead of him. Climbing to the rim of the crater, Alex looked down inside to see what had fallen from the sky. Standing in the center was Cross, his form aglow with orange light along with his eyes. Power radiated off of him, making it clear that this wasn't going to be easy in the slightest.

"You know, there are less destructive ways to make an entrance," Alex said. Cross looked up at him.

"There's no escape for you this time, Chambers," he said, pointing at him. Alex just folded his arms and rolled his eyes.

"I'm standing between you and the entire city, I wasn't planning on going anywhere," he replied.

"So you're saying that you won't hold back this time?" Cross asked, darkness starting to gather around his form. Alex unfolded his arms and took a fighting stance.

"Count on it." Cross grinned at that.

"Music to my ears," he said before unleashing a ball of dark energy at him. Alex leapt into the air, springing off of a blast of static electricity and clearing the ball, which blew apart the crater side where he had just been standing. As he flew through the air, he threw several balls of electricity back at Cross like they were baseballs.

The electro grenades exploded, forcing Cross to backpedal in order to avoid damage. He settled into a stance and struck out with a spear made of dark energy like a scorpion tail striking. Alex landed and blasted the strike away before countering with several blasts of his own. Like the last time they had met, Cross raised his shield and deflected the blasts away from him, into the dirt sides of the crater.

Raising a hand, Alex clenched it into a fist. A single bolt of lightning rocketed down from the sky and struck the ground right next to Cross. The Dark Avatar was sent sprawling by the force of the blast, his jacket smoking and his hair standing on end. Control of natural lightning to this degree was something Alex rarely used. But in this case, it was clear that it was needed.

"Nice trick," Cross grunted as he got back to his feet, "wanna see mine?" He raised his hand and unleashed a beam of purple energy. The air filled with the sound of a fog horn. The beam forced Alex straight back into the crater wall, sprawling him out in the process. Rocks and dirt rained down on him as he struggled to get a breath back into his lungs.

Overhead, the air raid siren of several Police airships descending up them sounded. It was enough to get Cross' attention, drawing it away from finishing off Alex while he was still down. Alex himself was struggling to get up. The beam had been a total surprise, and was no doubt incredibly powerful.

"Republic City Police! Nobody more!" Cross responded by unleashing the purple beam again. It punched clean through an airship, slicing the craft in half and sending it flaming and spiraling into the harbor. Before he could turn the beam on the other airships, Alex tackled him from behind. The two rolled through the dirt before Alex came out on top, punching downward as his fists were alight with electricity.

Cross' form trembled as the current passed through his body from the blows. But he did manage to get a fist up and make contact with Alex's jaw. The electric user was sent flying backwards, tumbling a short distance across the crater. They both came up with their own respective energies pulsing, neither one ready to back down.

"So what's your plan when you kill me, huh? Mercer got what he wanted, the whole world will have Charged now," Alex said.

"Who said that Markus' plan is my own? I have my own vision for the world, and with this power, nothing will stand in my way," Cross replied.

"Pretty bold talk coming from someone who can't put down a glorified bug zapper."

"Hm. Perhaps you are right. I've been going about this all wrong," Cross said before a tendril made of dark energy appeared and wrapped itself around Alex's waist. Before he could react, he was lifted into the air and then slammed back to the ground. Cross repeated this process again and again, slamming him against the crater walls.

"Bugs need to be squashed!" he roared as he slammed Alex into the ground again. The electric user felt himself hoisted into the air again, but this time managed to discharge a single bolt of lightning. It struck the tendril that was holding him, destroying it just as it was about to reverse direction and slam him into the ground again.

The resulting action sent the electric user flying and tumbling like a rag doll. For a moment, all he saw were spinning images to dizzying to make out. Then he slammed down hard on something made of wood. He skidded a short distance, tearing up whatever he had landed on before finally coming to a halt.

Alex let out a moan of pain. His whole body felt like it was broken, which given what he had just gone through, there was a good chance of that. Sitting up slightly, he realized that he was on the edge of a dock jutting out from the mainland. The majority of the structure had been destroyed by him thanks to his landing. Now he knew why he hurt so bad, Cross had just thrown him across the harbor.

After establishing where he was, he began to take stock on the damage his body had sustained. His right eye was swollen shut, his left arm dangled useless at his side, several ribs were cracked or broken, and his left leg had bone showing. Using his good arm and leg, Alex dragged himself off of the dock. It was a taxing effort, and he pulled himself up against the base of a lamp post in order to rest.

 _"_ _Alex, look."_ He took the electric woman's cue and looked back toward Aang Memorial Island. A massive black and red humanoid figure was rising from the crater. It was several stories tall, with tendrils hanging from it's arms. He could only watch as the massive monster swatted the remaining airships from the sky.

 _"_ _Is that Cross?"_

"You know anyone else with a temper and power level like that?"

 _"_ _But...how?"_

"Do I look like I have any answers right now?" Alex watched as Cross smashed the fallen statue's head with his foot. With this done, he turned and began wading toward the city itself.

 _"_ _Alex, get up, that thing is headed for the city."_ The electric user tried, but he cried out in pain and collapsed again. His body was too damaged to move, much less fight.

 _"_ _Uh uh, you ain't getting out of this THAT easily."_ Tessa suddenly appeared next to him, kneeling on one knee. Rising to her full height, the electric woman placed one hand on his shoulder while raising the other to the light post overhead. Alex's body suddenly went rigid as he felt an electric current enter his body.

He screamed through gritted teeth as his body began the painful process of repairing itself. His eye shrunk back down to it's normal size, his ribs repaired and reattached themselves, and the bone in his leg slid back inside before the skin reformed itself over it. Alex felt every little detail, and it was pure agonizing torture. So intense was the pain that he saw spots dance before his eyes as he threatened to black out.

With that done, he slumped back against the lamp post and continued to allow the current to flow into him. Slowly, he felt his exhaustion and pain vanish as his reserves were restored. When he had a decent amount stored, Tessa allowed the current to stop. Alex got to his feet, cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders.

"Sometimes I wonder which hurts more, getting the injuries or healing them," he said.

"I'm going to find Lucy, it'll take both of you to stop Cross," Tessa said, watching as the massive form finally reached the shoreline. He reached down and fired his tendrils into the ground. All over the city before him, vines raced forward, overtaking several buildings and roads.

"Make it quick, and then get somewhere safe," Alex replied. Tessa nodded once before turning into a stream of electricity and flowing into the lamp post. Reaching into his jacket, Alex produced a small brass flare gun and fired it toward the sky. A single red flare flew upwards before arcing and beginning it's fall back toward the ground.

A fog horn filled the air, and Alex turned to find an airship approaching him. Alex couldn't help but smile at the sight of the _Kumano_ , it having been so long since he'd last seen it. The hatchway on the underside of the craft opened, revealing June standing with her arms crossed.

"Someone need a ride?" she called before tossing him a cable. Alex grabbed and was instantly pulled skyward. He'd had his breather, and now it was time to get back in the fight.

* * *

Tenzin, Kya, and Bumi stepped through the Portal and looked over the Spirit World for the first time in awe. The arch of light that was above them was a dazzling gold color. Nearby, they found Korra sitting on a boulder. Next to her, encased in stone up to his neck was Mercer. The man resembled a Halloween decoration with his hood and mask gone, leaving only a bald head, transparent skin, and glowing green skeleton behind.

"What in the name of all that is holy is that?" Bumi asked as they stopped before Korra. Mercer glared at him, or at least it seemed like he was glaring at him. He looked like he was doing that all the time without eyebrows.

"This is Mercer, Unalaq's right hand man," Korra replied.

"When I get out of here, little witch, I am gonna..." He was silenced as Korra flicked her wrist, casing the rock to rise up and cover his mouth.

"Korra, what happened?" Tenzin asked.

"Vaatu got loose and merged with Cross. They then ripped Raava right out of me and destroyed her. It's over, Tenzin, we lost," Korra said, her voice sounding depressed and on the verge of tears. Tenzin, however, didn't look like he was convinced as he stroked his goatee.

"Maybe not. There may still be a way we can reverse this," he said. Korra looked up at him skeptically.

"How?"

* * *

The _Kumano_ was circling high above the Cross monster, it's crew watching as the Police airships, and now biplanes from the United Forces engaged it and tried to fight it off. Aside from his trick of unleashing a horde of vines into the city, Cross had yet to actually leave the harbor and walk amongst the buildings, something with Alex was thankful for. Once he crossed that threshold, there was no telling how many civilians would be caught in the crossfire.

"So what's the plan, sparkles?" June asked.

"Hit it till it dies?"

"Yeah, cause that's working out so well," the airwoman said, motioning toward a flight of biplanes what were dropping bombs on Cross with little to no effect.

"Spirits are impervious to most physical attacks. But they do have a certain weakness to electricity though," Alex replied. June shot a look toward him.

"You're not gonna..." The electric user smiled as he held his hands out to the side, allowing electricity to arc up and down his arms.

"Oh you are gonna."

"Someone's gotta get his attention," Alex said before he stepped out of the airship. Despite free falling for over a hundred feet, he took it in stride, using a constant downward flow of static energy to slow his decent. Landing on the roof of a waterfront building, he looked up at the towering red and black form above him. Cross' attention was elsewhere, focused on the airships circling overhead. Many of the craft had increased their altitude so they were beyond his reach. The few that were still close found themselves being toyed with, like a cat lazily playing with a toy tied to some string.

One of the airships dropped a bomb, which promptly exploded in Cross' face. Cross responded by letting out a billow of pain before firing that purple beam, causing the airship to explode into a ball of fire. Alex could only look on in horror as his rival turned the beam from one airship to the next, igniting them all. Not even the _Kumano_ was spared as the civilian cargo airship was split and sent falling toward the city in two flaming halves.

Seeing June's airship being brought down was enough to make the Charged's blood boil. Turning to face Cross again, he brought his arms up and focused all of his power and concentration on the red and black giant. Bringing his hands together in two clenched fists, Alex unleashed the full power of the sky upon his rival.

Massive bolts of lightning chained down from the sky and into Cross. For the first time since he had taken this form, it seemed as if true damage and pain was being inflicted on him. Thunder roared, deafening people and shattering windows in the process. Cross withered under the constant stream of lightning, his voice moaning in pain as his form started to fall apart. Finally he collapsed, falling back into the harbor.

Alex had no choice but to release the flow of lightning. He fell to his knees, exhausted from the effort. Unlike anyone else, he had actually managed to wound this thing. The sound of water sloshing caught his attention, and he pushed himself to the buildings edge to see what was happening. Cross was getting back up, despite the smoldering holes that were in his form. Alex groaned at the sight. He was going to need the entire cities power supply to put Cross down permanently, maybe even more so.

A gleam of light in the sky caught his attention, causing him to take his eyes off the literal rising threat and see what was happening. Like a comet, another large figure slammed into Cross, sending the Dark Avatar skipping across the bay like a stone. As the new figure stood to it's full height, Alex couldn't believe his eyes.

It was Korra. Granted she was giant, and blue, and had her hair down. But it was Korra all the same. Alex just sat there, leaning against the building's edge completely dumbfounded. He knew that Korra as the Avatar was powerful, but he didn't think she was capable of doing something like this.

"Alex!" Turning his head, Alex found Lucy landing on the rooftop as well. Her body was surrounded by the swirling orange plasma.

"Bout' time you showed up," he said.

"I was having a hard time finding you until your little light show just now. You doing alright? Can you stand?" she asked. Alex nodded and wobbly pushed himself to his feet. Together, the two siblings stood side by side and watched as the two massive forms traded blows in the middle of the harbor.

"When did Korra learn to do that?"

"Hell if I know. I'd just settle for her kicking his ass," Alex said. Lucy smirked as she raised her hands to show off the plasma there.

"You know, lightning is plasma. You could give me a boost," she said.

"I'm drained, sis. I only got a little left," Alex said.

"It could save your girlfriend's life," Lucy said. Out in the harbor, Cross kneed Korra in the stomach before striking the side of her head with his fist, forcing her down toward the water.

"Fine then," he said, raising his hands toward his sister's. Lucy raised her right hand and pointed her index finger at Cross. The energy concentrated into a single point before shooting outward at a high rate of speed. A single orange beam, wrapped in blue lightning, shot forward.

 _PHEOW!_

The beam crossed the harbor in the blink of an eye, striking Cross directly in the side of the head. An explosion erupted, the entirety of the fireball consuming everything on Cross above his shoulders. The beast fell backwards from the force of the impact. When the smoke cleared, it was evident that the attack had caused a lot of damage, as literally half of Cross' head was gone.

"Nice shootin' sis," Alex slurred before his vision went black and he collapsed. He was at his limit, and now his body would have to pay. He caught himself on the edge of the building and watched as giant Korra bent a pair of water streams up and around Cross' downed form. After a moment, they began to glow gold. Alex quickly realized that this was the purifying technique that Unalaq had used.

"No..." Cross moaned before his form began to disintegrate. Alex smiled as his rival turned into a stream of sparks being blown away by the wind. With that, he collapsed, his exhaustion finally catching up with him.

"Alex? Hey, Alex stay with me...Alex...Alex?

"WAKE UP!" Alex's eyes flew open, and he realized that he was no longer on a rooftop but rather in a bed, with Korra sitting on the edge smirking at her success.

"We've really got to stop meeting like this," he said with a tired groan.

"You're the one who keeps overexerting himself. You really need to stop that, cause one of these days you won't come back from it."

"Where are we?" he asked, ignoring her comment.

"Back on Air Temple Island. We won. That shot you and your sister pulled off was enough to turn the tide back in my favor," Korra answered.

"How did you..?" he asked, making a few hand gestures to indicate the form she had taken.

"I'm still not entirely sure to be honest. Between Mercer escaping and keeping the Portals open, it's been a rough week." Alex paused and blinked, rerunning what she had just said through his head again.

"You didn't take out Mercer?"

"He was being prepped to be moved to a United Forces facility when..."

"You should have killed him when you had the chance!" Alex snapped. Korra folded her arms and gave him a look.

"Well excuse me if I don't think killing is always the way to go."

"He's dangerous, Korra. Not just in ability but in mind. Markus Mercer is probably one of the most dangerous people on the planet, and you just let him go free!"

"I didn't let him do anything! We had him in custody and he escaped!"

"And the Portals? Don't get me started. Did you think any of your actions through? Or did you just roll the dice and think 'gee I wonder what will happen if I do this?'" he asked. Now Korra was fuming.

"I did what I thought was best for the world!" Alex sprung out of the bed and was nose to nose with her.

"What's best for it? Letting a psychopath get free and dousing it in Rift Energy, THAT'S what's best for the world?"

"Humans and Spirits can coexist, it was a mistake to keep the two worlds separate."

"Oh, open your eyes, Korra! Mercer got exactly what he wanted. Now there are going to be Charged popping up all over the world. People are going to take advantage of that, and it's all going to be your fault!" Alex was cut off as Korra suddenly slapped him. He remained standing there with his head turned, momentarily stunned. Slowly, he turned his head back to face her, his eyes burning with rage.

"Alex, I..."

"Don't." His voice was cold. The coldest she had ever heard. She realized that she had crossed a line, and nothing she could say at this moment would get through to him. Grabbing his hat and jacket off the back of a chair, he quickly put them on.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I'm going to find Mercer. And I'm going to do what you were too much of a coward to do," he answered before storming out the door. Korra felt nothing but cold as she watched him go. She grasped her upper arms in a self hug as she sank onto the bed, suddenly very afraid of the once hopeful future she'd had a vision for.

 **And that's it for Rolling Thunder. Honestly I'm just glad to finally be out of Book Two. So you might be asking, what is next for this series. Well, dear reader, I'll tell you. I should have the first chapter of the next installment out shortly, and there will also be a Halloween special released in October. Be sure to keep your eye out for both. I'll be sure to post a notice here when the next installment is published. Until then, remember to read, review, let me know what you liked or didn't like, and I'll see you all again soon!**


	11. Sequels and Such

Hey guys, JC here letting you all know that the next installment for the Tempest series has been released. Look for 'Hurricane' either on my profile, or under the Legend of Korra tab, and I'll see you all there!


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